UT admissions disclosure

Recently, the University of Texas was asked to disclose some records regarding its admissions policy. The information that was being asked for by the Austin American Statesman had to do with what he administrators commissioned for UT Austin’s admission practices. The main allegation in the investigation conducted by Kroll Associates Inc., was that the former UT President Bill Powers had aided some students in obtaining admissions despite the objection of some admission officials. After having been told to disclose the information, the UT system proceeded to file a lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

               In my opinion, there are many things that are wrong with this picture. The first being that once more the admissions process and criteria in UT Austin’s admissions policy has become a point of discord. I do not agree with UT choosing to not disclose the information that was asked of them. It does not seem that any specific student information would be disclosed, only the admissions criteria which should already be known by the public. The institution is a public university and should therefore operate with as much transparency as possible; there is no reason for them to not want to show evidence pertaining to the issue. If anything, I would think UT would welcome the opportunity to regain some positive reputation by proving that the allegations are false; that is of course assuming that they are false. The actions of choosing to not disclose the information and going as far as to file a lawsuit against the Attorney General only serves to make the University look guilty.

               Having expressed the idea that UT should just disclose the information, I also have to recognize that issues like this are not unheard of. It should not come to a surprise to anyone that some faculty and staff in Universities try to help their loved ones get a spot in those various prestigious Universities. To conclude, I frankly don’t see anything wrong with the former President of UT Austin helping students gain admissions. However, whether it happened or not, UT should just own up to the truth and release the information to the public.