Mr. McRaven tells a lie

"He who speaks truth declares righteousness,
But a false witness, deceit."
Proverbs 12:17

If anyone believes this, we have some mineral rights in South Texas we would LOVE to sell you:

Letters of support from influential community leaders do not decide whether a student is admitted into the University of Texas, UT Chancellor William H. McRaven said Tuesday in response to this story.

“It is inaccurate to draw a correlation between a single letter of recommendation and the admission of a student,” McRaven said.

The News story pointed out that former UT President Bill Powers pushed through 73 under-qualified students after high university officials received recommendation letters from big donors, elected officials and former regents.

The 73 students were highlighted in an external study of UT admission policies, called the Kroll report, that looked at the years 2009 through 2014. While not identified, the Kroll report noted that the students had below a C+ high school grade average and 1100 SAT scores and were unlikely candidates for admission based on academics.

....

They were admitted based on a decision of the UT president and not through the regular admissions process. The slots they were given were added to the freshman class and did not displace other candidates, UT said.

Receiving letters of recommendation is a “reasonable and widely accepted practice” nationally and is only one aspect of many taken into consideration, McRaven said in his statement.

“The university makes a determination regarding whether or not a student is qualified based on an extensive review of many factors,” he said.

Read the whole thing here.