Turmoil Surrounding Ex-President Leaves U Of I With Big Bills
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The turmoil at the University of Illinois that led to the resignation of the school president lasted three months, but it also left behind a stack of bills.
As WBBM Newsradio's Dave Berner reports, it could cost upwards of $250,000 for consultants who helped manage the downfall of former U of I president Michael Hogan.
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The Chicago Tribune says those expenses included two meetings that Hogan had with an executive coach, costing $4,000.
Other bills include $160,852 owed to the law firm Jones Day and the forensic data analysis firm Duff & Phelps for investigating anonymous e-mails sent by Hogan's chief of staff in an attempt to influence a faculty senate decision on enrollment strategies, the Tribune reported.
The public relations firm Jasculca Turman is also owed $40,000 for helping in crisis management, the newspaper reported.
Hogan took office in 2010, in the wake of a scandal in which students with political connections allegedly were favored for admission to the university, despite lacking the necessary academic qualifications.
The rift between him and the faculty has developed over a management style they charge includes the sending of the unethical e-mails to encourage their support of Hogan initiatives.
Faculty members also criticized Hogan for other steps the authors say threaten the autonomy of the three campuses.
They also accused Hogan of usurping the authority of the campus chancellor, lacking financial discipline, and trying to bully the chancellor and faculty into falling in line on enrollment issues, according to an earlier Chicago Tribune report.
On Feb. 23, 130 prominent faculty members from the main Urbana-Champaign campus wrote that they had "no confidence" in Hogan, and that he "lacks the values commitments, management style, ethics and even manners needed to lead this university."
A university spokesman says the cost of the Hogan crisis will be paid out of the school's general fund, and not with state aid, the Tribune reported.
