In the least surprising development ever, UIUC Chancellor Richard Herman has resigned.
Speculation about Herman's future has been rampant since White announced Sept. 23 he would step down at the end of December. Former UI President Stanley Ikenberry will serve as interim president until a permanent replacement is found, likely by next fall.
Herman's departure means the UI will be searching for a new president, chancellor and provost, with a board of trustees composed mostly of new members.
We are now long, long past the point where the damage caused by the overreaction to the admissions "scandal" is greater than any and all damage caused by the scandal itself. We now have a lame duck President, a lame duck Chancellor, no Provost, a Board of Trustees that has no idea where the University is even located, and a BOT President who was selected as part of a corrupt, cynical bargain to keep him from running for Governor.
We desperately need new leadership in this state.
Maybe Joe Kennedy would be a good choice for chancellor? We desperately need a new Kennedy dynasty.
Maybe he could entice Hugo Chavez to donate some oil money to the UI endowment. It would be a more certain source of revenue than state funding and all the leftist professors would love the third-world connection. Maybe they could create a Hugo Chavez Research and Policy Institute.
How about Glenn Beck for Chancellor, Lou Dobbs for University President, and Rush Limbaugh as the new athletic Director?
Three Score and Ten Plus One
Keith Hays
And now its clear, Gordy, like Dillard doesn't carry about corruption and leadership, they just want to make sure the right people are beneficiaries. Republicans like this are the partial birth abortion of GOP prospects in 2010. Thank you for ruining the party, Gordy.
How about Keith Hays for all three? ;^) He could apply his considerable knowledge to addressing all the University's problems. Plus, how cool would it be to have University letterhead with "Three Score and Ten Plus One"?
"And now its clear, Gordy, like Dillard doesn't carry about corruption and leadership, they just want to make sure the right people are beneficiaries. Republicans like this are the partial birth abortion of GOP prospects in 2010. Thank you for ruining the party, Gordy."
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Jim Edgar would be my choice, at least on an interim basis. Better yet, can we just clone that guy and have him run all of Illinois?
Ron Guenther should be next on the chopping block. The fact Chris Kennedy is the Chairman of the BOT is a joke, just like Montgomery & Carroll still being trustees.
There are opportunities, crises, and problems. What is happening throughout this community, not only at UIUC, is definitely ill-defined problems, even verging on ill-defined crises. Our mantel as a community is to see if we can turn this into an opportunity(ies) to make both the university and communities the best places to be. We need to step back, take some deep breaths, and think outside the box.
Pattsi Petrie
Jim Edgar for President, Chacellor or Provost? Do you really think a bachelor's degree from Eastern qualifies him for any of these jobs?
You have any better ideas? The barrel's getting pretty low in Illinois. I say go with what you know.
How much will Professor Hermann make as a math professor at the U of I?
Maybe about the same as Vann Jones makes over at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC.
There was an over-reaction; but there is also a scandal: not just the clout list, but the whole array of skewed values of which the list is but a symptom. Pattsi is right. There is far too much cynicism, far too much talk, far too little action.
Jim Edgar for President, Chacellor or Provost? Do you really think a bachelor's degree from Eastern qualifies him for any of these jobs?
Bill Gates isn't qualified to run Apple either.
"Bill Gates isn't qualified to run Apple either."
???
Bill Gates isn't qualified to run Apple either.
He likely never will. But if he did it would not be the same as someone without a PhD overseeing a major research university where even most of the teaching assistants have a higher level of education.
Jim Edgar to clean up the University of Illinois? You've got to be kidding me! Why would you put an ex-governor who was deeply involved in "pay for play" in charge of cleaning up anything? Doesn't anyone remember the CMS scandal? Even for Illinois standards, this is a bit much.
All one has to do is check the math department salaries to get an idea of what Herman might possibly be paid. One can access all of the higher education salaries paid via state funds through the Sun-Times web site. It is very educational to scan the information.
Pattsi Petrie