Big names, no big deal at UT Austin

A relative handful of big-name, wealthy, influential and/or politically connected Texans wrote letters on behalf of a similarly relative handful of below-average students seeking admission into the University of Texas at Austin.

“Lord have mercy on our souls,” says the song from a long-running and thoroughly enjoyable 1978 Broadway musical (and later movie) about the faux shock among Texans after a real-life house of ill repute was discovered in La Grange, not many miles from Austin.

A special investigation commissioned by UT unearthed the less-than-startling fact that 73 of the aforementioned below-average students actually gained admission to the big university from 2009 to 2014.

Lord have mercy.

A report in The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday, based on copies of the letters obtained under an open records request, noted that more than 38,000 students applied to UT Austin in 2014. Fewer than half were offered admission, and 7,285 enrolled.

The investigation, known as the Kroll report, said the 73 were admitted by Bill Powers, then the president of UT Austin. It suggested that the rich and famous might have influenced his decision.

Somewhere in all of this, there must be a reason for alarm, although it’s not readily apparent. UT regent Wallace Hall has been chasing a scandal about the whole affair for months.

Now he’s even suing Chancellor William McRaven for denying him access to documents related to those 73 students. McRaven and the rest of the regents are fighting back, saying revealing records on specific students would violate federal and state law.

In a perfect world, competitive university admissions would not be influenced by powerful connections. But the numbers here show no widespread problem.

And just in case something needs to be fixed, McRaven will be presenting a proposal for systemwide admissions practices based on recommendations from a committee of former university leaders and the Kroll report.

Hall will probably continue to look for his scandal. He hasn’t found it yet.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Big names, no big deal at UT Austin."