Honor undeserved A U. of Illinois. embarrassment (about Rafael Correa honored by U. of Illinois)

As an alum of the University of Illinois, I am ashamed of my alma mater. The recent admissions scandal hurt the university's reputation and hurt the value of each alum's degree in an extremely competitive work force. I would expect the university to enact reforms to its admissions process and work to restore its reputation in order to regain the trust of alumni, prospective students and the citizens of Illinois whose tax dollars help fund the university. Sign up for home delivery and get big savings >> Sadly, the university is doing the opposite. Recently, the university honored Rafael Correa, the head of state in Ecuador, with the 2009 International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement. It goes without saying that academia is rampant with liberal philosophy and bias when it comes to education, and that the U. of I. is not immune. However, the university's decision in this matter is very alarming. Let me explain why: Correa is a dictator who idolizes Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. In fact, he has been quoted as saying he preferred "a thousand times" to be a friend of Fidel Castro and Chavez than be an ally of the United States. He has repeatedly operated above the law, ignoring the will of his people in order to write a new constitution by suppressing the voters with mob violence. Furthermore, Correa is destroying anything that resembles a free press in Ecuador. The Correa government has taken over four privately held television stations in the country and regularly intimidates and threatens the press when he doesn't agree with their coverage of his corrupt regime. And to top it all off, Correa is allied with FARC, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. FARC has been known to kidnap and kill Americans, the latest instance happening as recently as 2003. This group is also helping fund Correa and his dictatorial regime in elections. Yes, this is the man the university and its alumni association saw fit to honor earlier this month. When I called the association to find out why Correa was honored, I was hoping it would be ignorant of Correa's actions and views. Unfortunately I was wrong. I received a reply that "political viewpoint is not a factor for the recognition ... nor is the award a political endorsement." Yet the responder went on to say that Correa was recognized for "his implementation of economic and democratic reforms in Ecuador." The two are not mutually exclusive. The university cannot have it both ways. The Ecuadorian economy is hurting and the country's dictator who calls himself a "president" is running the government like a banana republic, all because of his political views. The university should be embarrassed for honoring Correa for his "reforms" and then hiding behind a pathetic excuse that it wasn't political in nature. The people of Illinois are smarter than that. They should hold the university to account and urge their representatives in Springfield to do the same. All of this raises the question: Who's next? North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for an honorary degree from the U. of I.? The association also went on to say that Correa is "among a new generation of transformational leaders in Latin America who is working toward sustainable, equitable and democratic governance." Does the university's standard for "transformation" include transforming the free press into government-run media? I seem to remember learning about the value of free speech from U. of I. journalism professors quite often during my time in Champaign. Has that standard changed? When I pressed the alumni association about whose decision it was to honor Correa, I was told it was the chancellor's office. Has the university administration learned nothing from the admissions scandal? If there was ever a time when the university and its administration needed to preserve its reputation, it's now. Saying they made a mistake and rescinding their award to the Ecuadorian despot would go a long way toward doing so. Matt Lloyd, a 1996 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, lives in Cheltenham, Md.