Apparently deciding it didn’t want a costly and embarrassing legal battle, the University of Illinois board of trustees has withdrawn its promised dismissal proceedings against Phyllis Wise, the chancellor of the Urbana-Champaign campus.
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In an email Thursday, Wise said she acceded to the Board of Trustees and Killeen’s request to resign as chancellor.
What still remains unclear is whether Wise will receive her $400,000 retention bonus and 12-month sabbatical.
Although many had expected the committee to rubber stamp the resignation agreement, which had been tentatively approved by University President Timothy Killeen, opposition to the payout from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s (R) administration may have complicated their decision, according to The Associated Press.
“I think this is a time to turn a page at the university”.
Killeen and university trustees announced those moves after a lengthy closed-door meeting of a trustees committee Wednesday, almost a week after Wise said she planned to resign as the top official at the Urbana-Champaign campus. Wise was already wrestling with lawsuits filed by a professor whose job offer was rescinded and former athletes in two sports who accused coaches and others of poor treatment. That’s a far different role than she would have taken on in her original employment deal, which included the freedom to teach and do research as a tenured professor.
But Wise says she has no intention of accepting that position, and says the university reneged on its promises negotiated with her lawyers. And Killeen deflected questions about what if anything had changed since the original August 6 agreement between the university and Wise.
The $400,000 severance deal raised concerns for Rauner and some lawmakers as the school faces increasing tuition and possibly lowered state funding due to budget issues.
The trustees’ letter indicated the dismissal process would not be immediate, and would include a hearing before the board of trustees. That could take a couple of months, university spokesman Tom Hardy said. Perhaps coincidentally, the university also released hundreds of “inappropriately withheld” e-mails from Wise and others related to the Salaita controversy.
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Killeen said Wednesday that retention bonuses such as the one Wise would have received will no long be part of administrator contracts at the University of Illinois.
