Thursday, August 23, 2012

Illinois corruption 8/23/12: Scholarship abuse

For the third straight day, I report on Illinois corruption with a tie-in to education--although no one has been accused of a crime. But the now-abolished General Assembly constituent scholarship program was called "scandal-plagued" by the Chicago Sun-Times today.

More...
Seven college students will get to keep a valuable tuition perk bestowed upon them by indicted former state Rep. Derrick Smith even though he wound up being expelled by the Illinois House last week, a state education official told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday.

In May, two months after he was arrested for allegedly accepting a $7,000 cash bribe in an undercover FBI sting, Smith handed out $185,000 worth of tuition waivers in a move that Gov. Pat Quinn at the time called "very disappointing."

Smith's rush to get the tuition waivers out the door came shortly before state lawmakers and Quinn ended the scandal-plagued legislative scholarship program Sept. 1, though the law abolishing them allowed sitting legislators like Smith (D-Chicago) to award one last batch of waivers for the 2012-2013 school year.
I have a feeling, whether it involves Smith or not, we'll be hearing a lot more about the General Assembly's disgraced scholarship program.

Where else but in Illinois can "scholarship abuse" occur?

Earlier posts:

Illinois corruption 8/21/12: School superintendent, board member, charged with theft

Illinois corruption 8/22/12: Four college and public school indictments

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