Illinois Faculty Leaders Push for President's Firing

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<p>Illinois Faculty Leaders Push for President's Firing</p>

<p>March 19, 2012 - 3:00am</p>

<p>More than 100 top faculty members at the University of Illinois sent a new letter to the Board of Trustees seeking the dismissal of Michael Hogan as president of the university system, The News-Gazette reported. Faculty anger has been growing in recent months against Hogan, who following a meeting at which board members urged him to repair faculty relations said he would do so, and apologized for the breakdown. But a new letter suggests that the faculty leaders have not been impressed by the new efforts by Hogan. While the faculty leaders thanked the board for taking their earlier concerns seriously, they added in their new letter that it was time for a new president. It is "all the more urgent that action be taken quickly to preserve the credibility of the board in the public arena as well as internally amongst the faculty, staff and students of the university," the letter said. "A board that does not act when there is a president who is so ethically and reputationally compromised as to be unable to function is one that is, in truth, itself unable to effectively govern the institution that it stewards."</p>

<p>Read more: Illinois</a> Faculty Leaders Push for President's Firing | Inside Higher Ed</p>

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<p>Hasn’t it only been about 2 weeks since the Board of Trustees met and told the President to improve his relationship with the faculty? I wonder if something in particular happened in the last two weeks. Otherwise, two weeks doesn’t seem like enough time to judge whether changes can be effected with effort on both sides.</p>

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<p>Quote: </p>

<p>“In their latest missive, the faculty members, including a professor who was on the search committee that recommended Hogan as president, said they had not been satisfied with Hogan’s efforts and said nothing will likely change their minds.”</p>

<p>Source: [U&lt;/a&gt; of I faculty (again) ask Trustees to fire Hogan - Chicago Tribune](<a href=“U. of I. faculty again urge president's removal”>U. of I. faculty again urge president's removal)</p>

<p>@beth’s mom</p>

<p>Well, instead of 130 faculty members last month, “only” 120 signed the 2nd letter this time around. Therefore, it seems that President Hogan’s effort to save his job is still far from enough (at this point that is)…</p>

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<p>So why were the faculty upset with Hogan? I’ve googled it, and I can’t find any specific complaints.</p>

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<p>College, I tried also. Could be he had issues at prior school. I think this type of get rid of him but not so why is kinda juvenile. These may be the most prestigous, highly regarded professors, but their opinon alone is not enough to sway me. The “nothing will change their mind?”</p>

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<p>^^ @collegealum314 & kayf</p>

<p>Excerpts March 5, 2012</p>

<p>"Mr. Hogan has come under fire for a series of decisions, including a push to give his office a more significant role in enrollment management, including campus-level admissions. Mr. Hogan’s faculty critics say these efforts infringe on campus-level autonomy.</p>

<p>More troubling than his proposals, Mr. Hogan’s critics charge, are the president’s methods, which include pressuring three campus-level chancellors to support his policies and calling on them to squelch faculty opposition. Those tactics were highlighted in tense e-mail exchanges between Mr. Hogan and the chancellors, including a particularly pointed back-and-forth with Phyllis Wise, who heads the flagship Urbana-Champaign campus.</p>

<p>In a January 5 e-mail to Ms. Wise, Mr. Hogan said he was “not happy” with her “lack of leadership” on his proposal to centralize enrollment-management functions.</p>

<p>In a separate e-mail to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Hogan said he “reminded” Ms. Wise that “my goals are her goals.”</p>

<p>The statement has reinforced faculty perceptions of Mr. Hogan as a top-down manager. Indeed, the president has earned the moniker on campus as “Hogan the Shogun,” said Edward A. Kolodziej, whose letter criticizing the president was signed by more than 120 professors with named or endowed chairs.</p>

<p>“‘My goals are your goals. Shut up and deal’ is what that means,” said Mr. Kolodziej, director of Urbana-Champaign’s Center for Global Studies."</p>

<p>Source: [Tapped</a> as Reformer, U. of Illinois President Treads Hot Water - Leadership & Governance - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“Tapped as Reformer, U. of Illinois President Treads Hot Water”>Tapped as Reformer, U. of Illinois President Treads Hot Water)</p>

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<p>Well, he’s out as President. Chris Kennedy is supposed to make another statement shortly, according to our local news. He will reman as a tenured prof.</p>

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<p>I wonder what policies he was pushing that inspired such opposition. It can’t just be his methods.</p>

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<p>University of Illinois President Michael Hogan Resigns</p>

<p>[University</a> of Illinois President Michael Hogan resigns - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-u-of-i-president-20120323,0,755434.story]University”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-u-of-i-president-20120323,0,755434.story)</p>

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<p>From the tribune article…</p>

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<p>OK, so Champaign didn’t want its prestige diluted by the Chicago and Springfield campuses, apparently. Usually, there is some kind of backlash to such elitism…</p>

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<p>I’m with the faculty on that. There is a big difference in the three.</p>

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<p>The University of California system is integrated, yet no one seems to confuse Berkeley with UC-Santa Barbara…</p>

<p>Regardless of whether the Champaign faculty is right, this sort of elitist talk usually elicits a public backlash.</p>

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<p>College, I agree. I don’t see anything wrong with sharing IT, other admin functions. The public may see this as profressors trying to protect jobs and being uncaring about the need to be more efficient. As to sharing professors, many in the public have the concpetion that professors only work a few hours a week, and might see this as a way to increase productivity. The professosrs may have valid points, but the way this is being reported, they do no appear entirely sympathetic.</p>

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<p>As a mom of a student at U of I Urbana, I have followed the issues since he has been in office. I feel bad that he was fired, however I have to admit that I am glad his policies will not go into effect. The schools should remain separate with autonomy for each school. Some items are already shared which is fine such as the IT dept. All payments, grades, classes, etc are on a similar platform with all three campus selections on first page.</p>

<p>The schools are separate which makes Urbana special. </p>

<p>Just my two cents.</p>

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<p>University politics is a dirty business - and administrators face double pressure: they must make the school fiscally successful while keeping it academically competitive. Not an easy task, which is why truly good academic administrators are rare - and the ones who succeed earn the big bucks that they do. The ones who don’t find themselves job hunting real soon.</p>

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<p>I didn’t see anything about sharing professors in the article I posted. I assume you mean teaching responsibilities. I don’t see how this is feasible considering the great difference between Chicago and Champaign. Besides, some profs have labs; it doesn’t make sense for them to be traveling. And even if they were next door, I don’t know how it saves money.</p>

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<p>Quote:</p>

<p>“In February 2011, Lisa Troyer, who had been an administrative assistant to Hogan, was accused of sending emails to others that were critical of the university’s student senate members. She denied the accusations, claiming that her email account was hacked. It was later found that Troyer herself sent the emails. She still denied those allegations, during an editorial that was printed in The News-Gazette a few weeks later.”</p>

<p>Source: [U&lt;/a&gt;. of I. president faces faculty criticism in wake of email scandal - Chicago Tribune](<a href=“U. of I. president faces faculty criticism in wake of email scandal”>U. of I. president faces faculty criticism in wake of email scandal)</p>

<p>Regardless of the recent scandals (including the admission fiasco) at UIUC, I firmly believe that the school will bounce back soon enough. Go Illini!! :)</p>

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<p>College Alum,</p>

<p>Professors at Urbana could be asked to teach on-line courses for students at other campuses. It may not be practical for all courses, but it might work for others. I still think many of the public want to see productivity gains, and might see the professors as stalling this.</p>

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<p>In higher education–or education at any level, for that matter–“productivity gains” = higher s/f ratios + larger class sizes = dilution of product quality. And if you’re going to turn it into online education, why not just enroll everyone in the University of Phoenix?</p>

<p>I actually don’t think people want that; not from their state flagship. I can’t imagine there’s going to be any large-scale public outcry over Hogan’s ouster. UIUC alums will probably care more than anyone, and most of them will side with the UIUC faculty in their desire to protect UIUC’s autonomy and the UIUC brand. My sense is that since UIC and UI Springfield are primarily commuter schools, their alums on the whole are probably not as passionate about their alma mate. But to the extent there is school pride there (as there definitely is with some UIC alums), sentiment might well be mixed, some against Hogan for taking steps that threaten the school’s autonomy and independent brand, and some perhaps for him for trying to find ways for UIC to piggyback on UIUC’s prestige and resources.</p>

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<p>But my understanding is that in the “integrated” UC system, each campus has pretty much the same kinds of autonomy in budgeting and personnel matters that Hogan was trying to strip the U of I campuses of.</p>

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<p>BClintock – I think the “slippery slope” arguement of why not just turn into U of Phoneix is a logic fail I think the 60 Minutes segment on Kahn Academy is going to have many people asking why are flagship Us not incorporating innovative online teaching into their program. The way the U of IUC professors pressed their case likely comes across as arrogant to many. It did to me - at least as to what was publcily reported. They may be right, they may be the best in their field, they may be accountable to no one, but they also may have won the battle but lost the war of U of IUC></p>