Officials say resignation was right move for UI
URBANA – An admissions scandal, years in the making, had many expecting Richard Herman to resign as chancellor since last month, when Urbana's faculty-student senate voted to recommend that both he and the president of the University of Illinois step down.
The Sept. 14 resolution, approved 98-55, called for an orderly transition. Less than two weeks later, on Sept. 23, UI President B. Joseph White obliged by exiting first.
On Tuesday, it was Herman's turn.
Joyce Tolliver, chairwoman of the Senate Executive Committee, said Tuesday that Herman's resignation is the right move for the campus.
"Even without the senate vote, this might have happened," she said. "Once the senate was on the record with a perception that we needed a change in leadership, it was headed in a certain direction."
She said that even though she feels it was right for Herman to resign, there were many positives to his tenure.
"I'm hoping his legacy will be associated with the Illinois Promise program and the Brazilian Institute," she said, referring to a $14 million gift from Jorge Paulo Lemann that Herman secured on a visit to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
She also praised Herman's support for the Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society and other efforts to make minorities and foreign students comfortable on campus.
"But this will make it easier for the campus to look forward, and to progress," Tolliver said.
Both Herman and White had been under fire since May, when the first reports of the so-called "Category I" admissions were published in The News-Gazette and the Chicago Tribune. Based on e-mails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the newspapers revealed that some politically well-connected students applying for admission to the UI were given preferential treatment, even over some better-qualified applicants.
The revelations were overwhelmingly damaging to Herman. Though no one accused UI administrators of taking money, dozens of e-mails suggest pressure was placed on them, from Herman on down.
Herman's name was found on many of the e-mails, which were forwarded sometimes without comment from administrators to each other.
The reports led Gov. Pat Quinn to form a commission in June to investigate the UI's admissions practices. In its final report in August, the Illinois Admissions Commission found that under its shadow admissions system, the university was "giving advantage to clouted applicants" and "unfairly disadvantaging those in the general applicant pool."
The commission recommended that the entire UI Board of Trustees resign and that the governor appoint a new board. Seven of the nine trustees resigned, and replacements were appointed. The newly constituted board immediately began its own review of top administrators.
University Archivist Bill Maher, a member of Senate Executive Committee, agreed with some of Herman's supporters that the chancellor was under "enormous" outside political pressure, especially considering the university's precarious budget situation.
But admissions pressure was nothing new, he said, and many faculty felt Herman was "more responsive to the pressure than seemed appropriate" compared with his predecessors.
News coverage and the state commission's findings made it clear that Herman had "a significant hand in how things were handled," he said.
"For the university to get beyond the bad press and the controversy this was creating, a change in leadership was going to be inevitable," Maher said.
The senate vote calling for Herman to step down was not a pleasant task, Maher said, "but inevitably, for the longer-term good of the university, it seemed to be necessary."
"It is unfortunate. Richard's done a lot of good things for the university. And finding leaders who will be that energetic is not an easy job," he said.
C.K. "Tina" Gunsalus, who authored a letter from eight former UI administrators saying the admissions clout system wasn't always the norm, was more critical of Herman. The letter said previous chancellors and provosts weren't in the habit of overturning admissions decisions or admitting applicants because of outside pressure.
"I think he did some good things for this campus, even many good things for this campus. The problem is that the ends don't justify the means," said Gunsalus, a former associate provost and assistant chancellor who was fired by Herman. She's now a UI professor of business and medicine.
"This is a sad day for the campus," she said Tuesday. "We've been really brought down. And I hope it's a new beginning."
Going back at least three years, officials on the Urbana campus have chafed at the political influences infiltrating the admissions process.
On Nov. 6, 2006, Associate Provost Keith Marshall wrote Herman to complain:
"We're trying to avoid giving out information on a rolling basis. ... It would likely cause problems with the counselors and other students at those schools. My preference would be that we educate Trustee (Niranjan) Shah on the new system and tell him we'll get back to him around December 10th. If that isn't feasible or if he does not accept that answer, the most we should share at this point is: credentials are competitive for admission; credentials are not competitive for admission."
Herman discussed individual applicants in some of the admissions decisions brought to him by Rick Schoell, executive director for government relations, and by Terry McLennand, the UI's assistant director of state relations. In some cases, individual legislators mentioned bills that could favor or disfavor the UI.
Former Trustee Kenneth Schmidt of suburban Riverwoods was one of several board members who went to Herman for help for his friends. He even joked with Herman about his "epidemic" of calls.
Schmidt e-mailed Herman in Feb. 27, 2006, to complain about an admissions decision.
"This puts me in a great position with her family," Schmidt wrote. "Based on what I was originally told, I indicated to the family that she would be admitted. What do you mean by alternate choice – we say we can admit her somewhere else? She is requested to make a different selection? What are the next steps?"
On Dec. 17, 2005, he wrote Herman, "You are slipping. Still waiting for a response on the two inquiries alluded to in the previous two e-mails – application status on and tuition status on (redacted). Do I need to resend the previous e-mails?"
In some e-mails, Herman puts Schmidt off, noting a candidate's "very low class rank."
Former Trustees Shah and Lawrence Eppley also pressured the chancellor.
All of the documents are available online at www.news-gazette.com/special/category-i/features.cfm.
Sometimes the pressure came down from the highest levels.
On Dec. 8, 2005, White told Herman, "The governor (Blagojevich), through Larry Eppley, has expressed his support, and would like to see admitted to UIUC, two candidates," one of which was later identified as a relative of Blagojevich associate Tony Rezko.
By June, Gov. Patrick Quinn named a blue ribbon panel led by former Judge Abner Mikva to interview the principals in the scandal.
Few legislators came forward; most of the hearings concerned UI employees.
The commissioners called Herman to Chicago, where he was asked about several admissions cases, including a 2006 e-mail exchange with former law Dean Heidi Hurd. They discussed the possibility of obtaining jobs for law school graduates in exchange for admitting less-than-desirable students pushed by Blagojevich, through Eppley. Hurd and Herman both testified that no jobs were awarded, and Hurd described the discussion as "facetious."
Mikva recommended that the entire board of trustees resign, and the full commission followed suit. Seven trustees did resign, including Eppley, Shah and Schmidt.
The revelations came to head in August when professors and students returned to campus and began protesting the admissions scandal in letters, e-mails and a banner calling for Herman to resign.
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- Obituaries