Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.
Some students were admitted to UNLV without going through the proper channels, a university system audit revealed Wednesday.
Each year the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, allows students who don't meet the normal criterion of a 2.5 grade point average to appeal their cases through the campus's Admissions Committee.
At least 28 students went around that process and were admitted between fall 2000 and 2001. Some of them had been rejected by the committee.
The Board of Regents, hearing of the 28 exceptions for the first time at the Desert Research Institute on East Flamingo Road, objected to bending the rules.
"This is a really troublesome report to me," Regent Doug Hill said. "Who knew this was going on?"
Regent Marcia Bandera felt administrators simply ignored the admissions policy.
"To me, some of this appears when violations occurred, certain individuals believed their way was better than the policy," Bandera said.
The students who were given exceptions included nine athletes and 19 non-athletes. Reasons ranged from students who did poorly in their first year of high school but excelled in subsequent years to those who experienced illness or death in the family and their grades suffered.
"We believed we had the latitude to make these exceptions," said Juanita Fain, vice president for administration. "At the time we viewed the committee as having an advisory role. When we made those acceptances, we didn't make them capriciously."
According to the audit, three student-athletes were admitted in fall 2000 by the vice president of administration even though they did not meet the regular admissions criteria.
She did not say who the athletes were or what sports they played.
The exceptions took place again in fall 2001 when athletes and non-athletes were admitted by UNLV administrators despite the fact that their appeal was either rejected by the Admissions Committee or never heard, the report said.
UNLV President Carol Harter explained that these were special cases. In one instance a student had a death in the family and received F's from the institution he was attending.
"I was aware that we occasionally make an exception," Harter said. "I did not view this as an abuse of our exception powers."
Students wanting admission can qualify in one of four ways. The first is to have a 3.0 grade point average overall or 2.5 GPA and successful completion of 13 core classes. The second is to have a 2.5 GPA with an ACT score of 21 or SAT score of 990 or higher. The third option is to correct any high school deficiencies through a university summer program.
The final option is to submit a letter of appeal and be considered for the special admissions process.
Between fall 1998 and spring 2002 UNLV admitted 183 non-athletes and 12 athletes through the committee process. It admitted 19 non-athletes and nine athletes through the alternate process in question.
UNLV's standards, even for the exceptions, generally exceed NCAA eligibility standards for student athletes to play.
The NCAA eligibility standards are an index based on a sliding scale that combine the GPA in 13 core classes with test scores, Kay Hawes, associate director of media relations, said.
For example athletes with a core GPA of 2.5 must have an SAT score of 820. Those with a 2.0 GPA in core classes would need a 1010 combined SAT, she said.
The NCAA would be concerned about the exceptions in UNLV admissions only if the school tried to allow athletes to play who didn't meet NCAA requirements, she said.
Hill asked how the students who got special consideration have done since their admission, and administrators offered no answers.
Regents did as the audit suggested and warned UNLV to follow the admissions process from now on. No penalties were given.
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