Former University of Texas President and Law School Dean Bill Powers has died at age 72.
Powers is probably most famous to BattleSwarm readers for his central role in the UT admissions scandal, in which well-connected students were admitted to the University of Texas despite not having the necessary grade averages or test scores. Powers eventually resigned over the scandal.
The UT admissions scandal was not only real, but several of the state’s most powerful politicians (including then-speaker Joe Straus) and media outlets conspired to bury the story. And there’s no guarantee that the problem has actually been fixed, especially since Wallace Hall is no longer serving on the UT board of regents. That Statesman obituary notes that “It’s an open secret that leaders of public and private colleges put a thumb on the admissions scale from time to time,” as though this is just something we should calmly accept as the way of the world.
I guess handling college admissions by admitting students based on objective criteria is just too hard a concept for some people to grasp.
There’s a saying that the good men do is often buried with them, but the evil they did often lives on after they’re gone…
Tags: Austin, Bill Powers, education, Joe Straus, Texas, University of Texas, Wallace Hall