The University of Illinois president and the chancellors of the university’s three campuses said Monday that they will create a task force to review aspects of the university’s admissions process through which many constituents inquire about and advocate for applicants for admission.

The review will examine how contacts from legislators, trustees, alumni and others have been managed in the past, what best practices are at peer institutions and what changes should be made going forward to ensure the integrity of the admissions process.

The task force will be comprised of university personnel, including one or more faculty representatives, and external members who will bring expertise and perspective to the review. The task force’s work will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees as the process unfolds. The make-up of the panel and a timetable for its work will be announced shortly. The university’s campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield recently wrapped up the admissions cycle for their fall incoming classes, and the next major admissions cycle begins in September.

The university also announced it has suspended use of the so-called “Category I” list until the review is completed and recommendations on new practices are considered. The list consisted of the names of about 160 Urbana campus applicants on behalf of whom admissions inquiries were made by public officials, alumni and others. With 26,000 applicants for 7,000 seats in the 2009 incoming class, the university received thousands of contacts in the past year about admissions cases.