U. of Texas Regents Approve Policy Allowing Campus Chiefs to Sway Admissions

University of Texas system presidents will be able to order the admission of students who would not otherwise be admitted on “very rare” occasions, according to a new policy passed Thursday, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

The new policy comes after a system-commissioned report revealed that the then-flagship president, William C. Powers Jr., had intervened in the admissions process on behalf of politically connected applicants. In response to those findings, the system chancellor, William H. McRaven, formed a task force to make policy recommendations.

David E. Daniel, the system’s deputy chancellor, said the policy permits presidents to order special admissions only in cases of “highest institutional importance.”

The only regent to vote against the policy was Wallace L. Hall Jr., who has been a dogged critic of admissions practices at the Austin campus.