Marathon Pundit: Marathon Pundit Exclusive: What happened behind the scenes of the University of Illinois veteran scholarship scandal

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.

- Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969.

Actually it's bigger than that. David Ikenberry is the son of the former president of the University of Illinois, Stanley O. Ikenberry.

More on him later.

This is the second in a series on the growing University of Illinois Veteran scholarship scandal. Evidence uncovered by Marathon Pundit reveals what appears to me a shocking pattern of deceit and denial that goes all quite high at the U of I. For background on this story, read my February 27 post, Broken promises: How "jarheads" got shunted aside at the University of Illinois: A Marathon Pundit series.

Three weeks ago, I met with former University of Illinois College of Business Associate Dean Robert van der Hooning at another north suburban Starbuck's.

The man is in excellent spirits -- and for those readers who think that the unemployed man is bitter, angry, and talking to me and mainstream media reporters to grind his axe, well, you're wrong.

Van der Hooning realizes the issues of veterans' education, like veterans' health care, are bigger than him, and bigger than his lawsuit with University of Illinois. You might think after getting burned by going to bat for veterans at U of I that he’d run as far away as he could from their cause. But just the opposite, he’s actually spent the past year researching and developing a comprehensive solution to veterans’ education and addressing the shortcomings of the GI Bill and Illinois Veterans Grant. He’s spoken around the country about it and pitched the proposal to Congressmen Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL).

Van der Hooning’s knowledge and passion about the veteran education issue got me thinking. He explained that about 94% of all service members pay into the GI Bill, but "only 8% of them actually get a degree" within 10 years of their discharge and 30% of the 640,000 who paid their 100 bucks per month for future education benefits never used the GI Bill at all. Worse, those $100 per month deductions from service members’ paychecks that went unused have contributed over $230 million from to Uncle Sam's treasury. Here’s my question: If the military knows this, and Congress knows this, why are they telling new recruits that their military service will buy them an education when 92% of them will never use it to get a degree? What in the world is going on?

Anti-war activists claim that many -- perhaps most -- of the soldiers and sailors who join the military do so in order to pay for their college education. Actually, they are probably right. And it's not just the activists saying that. While I was explaining to Mrs. Marathon Pundit that I was working on a follow-up to my first University of Illinois story, she told me, "Well that's why people join the military, so they can go to college free -- it says so in their commercials." Mrs. Pundit’s opinion was reinforced in an article in Chronicle of Higher Education (GI Blues 5/13/2005) that reported "money for college" is the main reason civilians enlist. Free registration is required to view the story.

As van der Hooning builds his post-University of Illinois career, this former Northwestern Kellogg School professor and private sector CEO wants that 8 percent figure to dramatically grow. And he wants to re-engineer higher education in the process. His rationale, however, is not what you might expect. Earlier in his career, before he became a professor, van der Hooning worked for General Motors in Detroit. His unit was taken over by, Electronic Data Systems, at the time run by Ross Perot, a former Naval officer. van der Hooning told me:

I remember walking around the EDS corporate campus in Dallas. Just about every other executive was a former military officer with a 'Semper Fi' sign in their office window. They made a lasting impression on me as tough, smart and ethical business leaders.

Van der Hooning says that companies should covet for the skills of veterans out of selfish financial interest in order to reap the benefits of a highly skilled, loyal and disciplined group of workers to compete in the marketplace. But he argues that traditional academic offerings are designed for different "market segments" that don't fit the needs of older, more mature and experienced military veterans. "Traditional colleges and universities are built on a four-year, in-residence (dormitory), two-semester model that aren't designed to leverage 10 years of real-world experience in supply chain or information technology. That model may make sense for the 18-year old student from suburban Skokie, but not the 28-year old marine with a wife, two kids and significant financial responsibilities, such as health care, mortgage and car payments," he says.

One way or another, our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan will wind down or end. And thousands of veterans, with unique experiences from the ultimate leadership laboratory may want to supplement their experience with education, like they were promised. And van der Hooning wants to help, with or without the help of his former employer, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Last year, van der Hooning was the catalyst behind the offer of 110 full-ride Executive MBA (EMBA) scholarships for returning Illinois War on Terror veterans at the school. The scholarship program, launched in March 2006, was to be largely funded--about 70 percent--by the Illinois Veterans Grant (IVG) program. The balance would be picked up by the University as required by Illinois law - 110 ILCS 947/40.

But sadly, the College of Business snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. After basking in the glow of positive international press coverage, administrators at the college reneged on their promise, pulling the plug on the scholarship program and fell all over themselves--denying wrongdoing despite clear evidence to the contrary. An investigation by Marathon Pundit, outlined below, has uncovered inconsistencies, fabrications and outright deception on the college's part. And according to van der Hooning’s lawsuit, it appears that the Executive Inspector General in the Illinois Attorney General's office is investigating, too. I have a copy of the suit, containing rock-solid evidence of wrong-doing by U of I officials, another one for my blog collection.

Rather than rely on van der Hooning's word alone, I compared several claims made by several college administrators in the media over the past few months against internal university documents, web sites and e-mails I've obtained. It seems the more they talk, the more unlikely and ludicrous their claims become. If there was ever a clearer illustration of Occam's razor at work, I haven’t seen it.

All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one.

This much is clear. A couple months into the campaign to recruit military veterans under this scholarship program, college officials cut it back dramatically from 110 to just 15-17. Two reasons were given. The first was that the Illinois Veteran's Grant--the main financial source for the program--would be under-funded as in previous years. Secondly, as I reported in February, van der Hooning was told that "too many jarheads in the program would bias the class demographic." Several college officials, notably College of Business Dean Avijit Ghosh, Associate Dean Larry DeBrock, and the man that van der Hooning described as "his mentor" at the University of Illinois, David Ikenberry (Remember him?), the chair of the college’s finance department, told van der Hooning to recruit more civilians while giving military veterans the heave-ho. This is a slippery ethical and legal slope for the University. Illinois law - 110 ILCS 947/40 – states that qualified and eligible veterans get their education paid for by the State of Illinois no matter whether the program is fully funded or not. Discriminating against veterans in the admissions process because of under-funding of the IVG Program, in favor of civilian applicants, seems blatantly wrong.

And that was exactly what van der Hooning said to Chuck Goudie from ABC 7 Chicago News in an interview on January 10, but van der Hooning used the words "conspiracy" and "cover-up" to describe the university's actions – strong words indeed. In response, Thomas Hardy, the top PR person for U of I said, "A statement like that is as offensive as it is laughable."

Now I know what van der Hooning was talking about. And it's not "laughable."

After van der Hooning objected to booting veterans from the MBA program, the college used his signature from an electronic file and pasted it on a letter written by Associate Dean Larry DeBrock rescinding admission to about 35 people – and 34 were vets. The ugly part is how they did it. Accoring to van der Hooning, DeBrock, Ghosh and Ikenberry accessed van der Hooning's MBA admissions database, which contained data from veterans’ applications, and reverse-engineered new application time deadlines to exclude veterans from the program. They moved back the wall of the outfield, so instead of the veterans hitting a home run, their time at the plate turned into a routine fly out. But they didn't get away with it. Letters or protest rained in to the Board of Trustees, President Joe White, congressmen and senators, according to van der Hooning. And that's when he says the cover-up began.

Now here’s where it really gets strange.

First, David Ikenberry claims he didn't know anything until July 1 after van der Hooning when was no longer there. Ikenberry isn't just some junior professor at U of I. He’s the Chairman of the Finance Department in the College of Business, a member of Dean Ghosh's inner circle and of course, the Fortunate Son of Stanley O. Ikenberry, former President of U of I, and the man in charge of the mega-university when I attended the University of Illinois in the 1980s.

Two months ago, the younger Ikenberry gave the Daily Illini, the U of I's student newspaper, a Clintonian denial of his involvement in the veteran scandal, according to reporter Mark Spartz:

Ikenberry said he is only the interim director, and before July 1, 2006, he was not aware of any of the issues that were going on…

Spartz asked Ikenberry why he was mentioned in van der Hooning's lawsuit. Ikenberry said "I have no idea."

Van der Hooning’s account, described by Spartz in the Daily Illini article, is much different. Now I see why. E-mails obtained by Marathon Pundit clearly reveal that not only did Ikenberry know what was going on in the rescind scandal, he was one of the key movers and shakers in the scheme from the very beginning of the effort to bring military veterans to the University of Illinois Executive MBA (EMBA) program. Ikenberry e-mailed van der Hooning on May 25 - just a week after van der Hooning got orders to boot veterans out of the program - confirming Associate Dean DeBrock’s directive to limit the class size to 60, "shrink" the number of veterans, and expand the number of civilians in the program. Ikenberry wrote in that e-mail:

...one bullet I would add is to look at the cases in the "civilian pipeline" and break them down into various categories from hot prospects (because of...) to new, undeveloped prospects… The logic here is to 1) give us a better appreciation for what the civilian challenge really is at this point in order to produce a class of 60.... This analysis of civilians in the pipeline clearly takes a backseat to solving the immediate issue of how to shrink down the number of quick admits.

Incidentally, the term "quick admit" came from Ikenberry's very own "quick admission" program for his Masters of Finance program in Champaign that he shared with van der Hooning in March. In my February piece, I go into greater detail on "quick admit." In short, soldiers hunting for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan wouldn't have access to their personal records, stored in a home safe in, say, Peoria so "quick admit" was a way to ease the understandable difficulties troops face in applying to a university from a war zone.

In addition, Marathon Pundit has obtained a photograph of a whiteboard in van der Hooning's old office with the notes from a working session he had with Ikenberry on May 22. This meeting came on the heels of van der Hooning’s refusal to rescind a group of 11 veterans on orders from DeBrock, Ghosh and Ikenberry the day before. The words "Keep Recruiting Civilian!" is written in large letters in the middle of a whiteboard.

So, while Ikenberry claims ignorance before July 1, the facts state otherwise.

Professor Ikenberry, care to revise your statement, sir?

Secondly, university officials claimed in the Daily Illini and Associated Press articles that the 110 full-ride scholarships were never planned for just one year, contrary to van der Hooning's statements. But the university's position keeps changing depending on who they talk to. If the time period for the scholarships wasn’t just one year as van der Hooning claims, exactly how long does the university claim it was? So far, I've found five different answers by university officials ranging from two years to "uncertain." Sort of like asking your teenager what he did on a suspect Friday night and the story gets crazier until the point of absurdity is reached.

According to van der Hooning, representatives of Congressman Emanuel (by all accounts a tenacious man) and Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn (nice, but an ardent supporters of Illinois veterans), called him after a meeting with Dean Ghosh in their Chicago offices last June and said Ghosh promised to deliver the balance of the 110 scholarships in the second year. "They told me to hang in there, keep plugging along and make sure the university delivers on its promise. They said Ghosh promised to make good on the balance of the scholarships the following year, but I told them Ghosh was going to leave Illinois for another job and the likelihood that the scholarship program would survive another year was slim to none," van der Hooning said.

The two-year period is supported by comments made by Eric Schuller, a Quinn staffer, to Associated Press reporter David Mercer:

They promised 110 spots," Schuller said. "We're kind of disappointed that they didn't do it all in the first year. What we're expecting is that they be done as quickly as possible, meaning in the next coming year.

But the university's top two public relations people have a different view, although they can’t even get their own stories straight which tends to happen with cover-ups. According to Tom Hardy, Executive Director for University Relations:

37 vets are currently enrolled under the special MBA scholarships and that about 70 others will be admitted during the next two years.

Source - ABC 7 Chicago I-Team Investigation (January 10, 2007)

But Robin Kaler, Associate Chancellor and Director of Public Affairs, who works for Chancellor Richard Herman, gives several conflicting answers that contradict Hardy:

The program certainly will not be 110 students this year. It was never meant to be. We committed to that number over 3-4 years.

Source E-mail to ABC 7 Chicago obtained by Marathon Pundit (July, 2006).

...up to 110 scholarships will be awarded over several years and among students in three MBA programs...

Source - College of Business web site (March 7, 2007)

The university will continue offering the scholarships until it reaches 110, but future plans are uncertain.

Source- Associated Press (March 12, 2007)

Question for Robin Kaler and Tom Hardy. If the scholarships are going to be offered over two, three, four or more years, why did the college eliminate all references to the veteran scholarship program and from their web sites and brochures after van der Hooning left?

One final question to Ms. Kaler and Mr. Hardy – care to revise your statement (again)?

However, the most damning piece of evidence uncovered by Marathon Pundit comes from the College’s own internal document produced by Associate Dean Sandra Frank on March 22, 2006, who works directly for Ghosh. It's titled "IVG Partnership." The document was put together at Ghosh’s request so that van der Hooning and Mary Miller, the other dean in charge of Champaign-based MBA programs, were singing off the same song sheet. Here are the first three lines in the document:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Business/IVG Benefit Partnership Program
Guidelines for Implementation for Academic Year 2006-2007

Yes, that’s right. It says 2006-2007. No other dates, just 2006-2007. One year. In the college's own words.

Occam's razor, again.

If you think the University's explanation for how long the veteran scholarship would be offered is wacky -- two years, three years, three to four years or uncertain -- wait until you read what the university says about the number of scholarships actually given out.

According to Robin Kaler, speaking to the Daily Illini:

We honored every commitment, military or civilian, regardless of whether they were authorized.

Honored every commitment? How many commitments do you mean, Ms. Kaler?

Well, commitment is a relative term at U of I. The number of commitments range from 39 to 76 depending on who’s telling which story to whom. Documents and public statements uncovered by Marathon Pundit show a disturbing pattern of obfuscation and cover-up on the part of several senior College administrators.

Here’s what Dean Ghosh wrote to the Lt. Governor’s office, two weeks after van der Hooning was gone:

...we have admitted and offered scholarships to 61 veterans. Our class for the year is now full. We have been formally admitting the students as soon as all the paperwork is coming in. I am disappointed and somewhat baffled by calls you are receiving. Could it be from veterans who are still trying to apply for this year? This year’s admission cycle for the Chicago program and the full time program in Champaign for all students has expired. We will be offering veterans scholarships again for next year.

Source - e-mail from Avijit Ghosh to Lt. Governor Quinn’s office (July 14, 2006)

Not only is Ghosh's claim that 61 veterans were admitted under the scholarship program flat out overstated by 50 percent, Ghosh's feigned incredulity is belied by his own disingenuous actions at the time he wrote to the Lt. Governor's office. What Ghosh didn’t know when he wrote the Lt. Governor's office is that van der Hooning had just written a letter in support of an Army Sergeant who he learned was accepted, rescinded, re-accepted and re-rescinded again after van der Hooning was let go. "Reassigned" Dean van der Hooning was still on the side of veterans even after he got the boot.

Ghosh's statement to the Lt. Governor, "I am disappointed and somewhat baffled by the calls you are receiving," seems to be nothing less than a classic CYA whopper. What Ghosh didn't tell the Lt. Governor's office is that he asked Associate Dean Larry DeBrock to kick the Sergeant out of the MBA program a second time. Yes, a second time. Ghosh seemed to know exactly what was going on, but told the Lt. Governor’s office something else.

What makes this case even more alarming is that the Sergeant, who had just returned from active duty in Iraq, had his admission rescinded a second time a few days after Ghosh un-rescinded him in writing:

I write to let you know that the College will not waiver from its commitments. Be assured that each case where an applicant has received a notice of conditional admission, via email or by letter, will be honored by the College.

Source - letter from Ghosh to all rescinded military veterans (June 14, 2006)

It turns out that Ghosh got an earful by the senior staff of Congressman Emanuel and Lt. Governor Quinn in Chicago and was forced to re-accept, in writing, all the veterans he previously rescinded. Ghosh evidently didn't like having his lunch handed to him--even by two powerful public officials. So once again,he dispatched DeBrock and Ikenberry to pressure van der Hooning to "be a team player" and rescind veterans a second time quietly behind the scenes--in other words, re-rescind. But van der Hooning did the ethical thing and resisted again and stood up for the vets, even after being cautioned by Emanuel and Quinn’s offices to secure documentation that would later prove what really happened.

I forgot to ask van der Hooning this, but as far as I can tell, no one was re-re-rescinded.

Just a few weeks later, after van der Hooning was out of the picture at the university, he received an e-mail from that Sergeant with news of the second rescind decision by DeBrock:

Well, I got a call from… Larry DeBrock, I think and he said that they denied me admission because my Bachelors from (redacted) wasn't good enough…

Source- Email from Sergeant to van der Hooning (July 9, 2006)

To me, it's incredible to read the self-righteous proclamations of the university's public relations staff and how they said they honored their commitments to veterans while working behind the scenes to apparently do just the opposite.

Now while Ghosh was telling the Lt. Governor's office that "we have admitted and offered scholarships to 61 veterans" just four days later, Robin Kaler told ABC 7 News:

We're going to honor every promise he made…as many as 76 people. We'll have to hold some classes in a dining room retrofitted at great expense.

Source - email from Robin Kaler to ABC7 News (July 18, 2006)

And just a few months later, after the brouhaha of the 110 full-ride scholarships died down a bit with van der Hooning's departure, Kaler's pledge to "honor every promise he made… as many as 76 people" mysteriously dropped down to 39 in her interview with the Daily Illini:

The EMBA program has since doubled in size since last year, from 32 to 65 students. Due to attrition, the current class is 58. Also, last year only 8.6 percent of students received IVG benefits. This year, 60 percent of the class receives these benefits, or 39 students.

Source - Robin Kaler to the Daily Illini (March 7, 2007)

Now Hardy, who is the University's top PR person, claimed in his interview with ABC 7 Chicago I-Team investigator, Chuck Goudie, that the number was 37. But that was in January. I guess the number somehow went up after students were enrolled.

The University has given so many different stories about the number of veteran scholarships granted – 61, 76, 37 or 39 – and the number of years it was planned – two, 3, three-four, "several years" or it's just plain "uncertain." No matter how the university spins this story, the simplest explanation seems to be what Occam's razor tells us. The most obvious explanation, based on the evidence, is 110 scholarships in one year.

The inconsistency in the "correct" amount of scholarships and time frame would be laughable--it reminds me of Sen. Johnny Iselin's various counts of the number of Communists employed by the State Department in the first Manchurian Candidate film--were it not for the fact that the educational futures of War on Terror vets were being tossed around by the edu-crats that can't even agree on which story to spin on their roulette wheel of explanation, nor can if figure out what number the roulette ball is supposed to land on.

I believe Ronald Reagan had the jar heads figured out right when he said,

Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem.

But Marines, just as with members of the Air Force, Navy and Army, aren't usually "Fortunate Sons."

More coming next week: How the University of Illinois Executive MBA program can fit 110 students in its downtown Chicago Illini Center, and what about that "jarhead" slur?

One more Reagan quote, from his autobiography An American Life, that best explains the U of I mess: