CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) – University of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis Wise’s surprise resignation was followed closely by an announcement that she and others at the university’s flagship campus had used private email accounts to avoid public scrutiny of their deliberations on key issues.
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College trustees are scheduled to vote Wednesday afternoon on Sensible’s resignation and revised employment settlement, together with the bonus.
“We request that you and the members of the Executive Committee…do not approve the proposed agreement with Dr. Wise”, deputy governor Trey Childress wrote in a letter to Chairman Edward McMillan on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Hardy said the letter from Rauner’s office “is being respectfully taken under advisement”.
Montgomery said he isn’t certain yet how he’ll vote on the bonus after weighing “a legitimate concern” that Wise might not deserve the bonus, given the emails against the potential legal cost of deciding to reject the terms of her resignation.
“We are doing virtually nothing over our Illinois email addresses”, Wise wrote in September from her personal account during a discussion about Salaita, whose job offer was withdrawn after he wrote a litany of critical and sometimes profane comments about Israel on social media.
According to her contract, Wise is to receive a one-year sabbatical and then join the faculty in the School of Molecular Research and Biology at a salary of about $300,000 per year.
U. of I. spokesman Thomas Hardy has said the $400,000 payment reflects Wise’s completion of almost four years in the job.
“I would not give somebody $400,000 to go away peaceably in the event that they (did what she did)”. A former board chairman, Chris Kennedy, also opposes a bonus for Wise.
Speaking to the Champaign News-Gazette, “Salaita’s attorney, Anand Swaminathan, said the emails indicate that “something changed” around the time of the board of trustees” July 24th, 2014 board meeting, where Wise discussed the situation with trustees in closed session. Hardy says those decisions are Killeen’s, and he has not yet commented in any detail.
University of Illinois officials conducted official business and discussed controversies on email accounts that they didn’t make available for public records requests, the school admitted Friday. College officers discovered concerning the omissions in April and commenced an inner investigation with the assistance of out of doors authorized counsel Jones Day. “I don’t call it a threat, (but) on the other hand it could be perceived as such”. “I am even being careful with this email address and deleting after sending”. Earlier this year, the College of DuPage awarded its outgoing president $763,000 as part of a severance deal.
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U. of I. trustees are appointed by the governor, and Rauner reappointed McMillan to a second six-year time period in January. The American Association of University Professors said the decision “violated the principles of academic freedom”.
