Private schools can bend their rules and admit the children of alumni, big donors or others who are well connected. It might not be fair, but it's a fact of academic life.

But a public, tax-supported, institution should have a higher standard of fairness.

That a well-connected applicant might get an "extra" look in the admissions process probably isn't surprising.

But the degree to which special treatment was institutionalized at the University of Illinois, as uncovered by a Chicago Tribune investigation, is surprising - and disturbing.

The system even included a separate list - Category I - for applicants with "clout."

Illinois State University says it has no comparable list and procedures for appealing a denial of admission are spelled out on its Web site. No secret handshake or political connections are required.

It is reassuring that "our" hometown university apparently isn't playing political games with admissions, but the University of Illinois is "our" university, too; it belongs to every resident of this state.

The Tribune investigation focused primarily on the undergraduate side, where the initial screening of thousands of applicants is based on grade point averages and admission test scores.

But the scandal took on an even seedier side with revelations that University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman sought jobs for some graduates in exchange for accepting a politically connected applicant to the university's law school, according to the Tribune.

Gov. Pat Quinn has established a commission to look into the matter. With former federal appeals judge Abner Mikva at its helm, the commission can be trusted to provide tough scrutiny.

Although university officials have said no unqualified applicants were admitted, one of the first witnesses for the commission contradicted that claim.

Abel Montoya, a former admissions official, testified that people on the Category I list were admitted that shouldn't have been - students he felt "were not going to do well on our campus."

The commission's probe is supposed to take 60 days. We look forward to its findings and recommendations, but we also want to see how the Board of Trustees handles the matter.

The question is not just whether any of these trustees used their positions to gain special treatment for a favored candidate but how they respond to this scandal.

By "respond" we don't just mean wringing their hands; we are referring to how they change policies and whether they slap hands or cause heads to roll.

The university has eliminated the Category I list. That's a good start - but only a start.

Illinois residents deserve reassurance that admissions to its tax-supported institutions are not based on political influence.