Candidate Apologizes For 'Typo' Misstating Degree

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — City council candidate Adam Stolberg apologized Friday for incorrectly stating his college major.

Despite what it says on his campaign literature, including postcards and his website, the Highland Park City Council candidate did not major in Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

In fact, he graduated with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1993.

“We apologize for the typo or the abbreviated version of it,” Stolberg said.

Besides, he added, Agricultural Economics and Economics are not very different after all: "It’s really the basic, same foundation, it’s just a different focus.”

According to a document generated from the 1995-1997 UIUC programs of study, the Department of Agricultural Economics offered areas of concentration including "agribusiness management, agricultural finance, agricultural marketing and price analysis, farm management, international agricultural development, natural resource economics, agricultural and food policy, and rural sociology."

In 1996, the department was reorganized to become the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, according to the school.

Stolberg refused to say whether he believed it is a matter of legitimate public interest whether candidates for office accurately describe their academic records on campaign literature.

"Patch has no ethics, no dignity, and no respect. That's what you can print," he said.