University of Illinois president resigns

When University of Illinois President Michael Hogan took over 20 months ago after an embarrassing scandal, his supporters championed him as a likable reformer who could stabilize the university.

On Thursday, he resigned after months of turmoil, a faculty mutiny and a scandal in the president's office that had left him so sidelined that people began to question not whether he would quit but when.

His last day as president will be July 1, and he is the second U. of I. president to resign under fire in less than three years. Robert Easter, who has been everything from a doctoral student to interim chancellor in nearly four decades at the U. of I., will take over for at least two years.

The end of Hogan's presidency came relatively quickly ? just two weeks after trustees instructed him to improve his fractured relationship with the faculty or risk losing his job. Hogan pledged to do better and said he was "optimistic" he could regain their trust. Top faculty disagreed, sending a second letter to the board Thursday asking for his "rapid and decisive termination."

By Sunday, board of trustees Chairman Christopher Kennedy was meeting with Hogan in the president's Chicago condominium, and Hogan told him he had decided it was best to resign. They discussed Easter taking over as the 19th president.

"Whatever he was doing in those 10 days, he arrived at that conclusion, that he wanted to resign," said Kennedy, who was appointed to the board in 2009 after an admissions scandal. One of the board's first significant actions was to hire Hogan.

"Mike Hogan accomplished almost everything that had been identified as important goals for the university when he was hired," Kennedy said. He said Hogan was "absolutely not" a failed hire. "Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. What he did was good."

In Thursday's announcement, Kennedy said the university "owes (Hogan) a debt of gratitude for moving a number of tough, and sometimes unpopular, initiatives forward."

Kennedy said Hogan's accomplishments included $30 million in administrative cost savings and providing merit-based salary increases this year for the first time in three years. He also made a number of high-profile hires, including new chancellors at the Urbana-Champaign and Springfield campuses and a new vice president for the health system.

Hogan, 68, didn't respond to an interview request Thursday and said in a statement that it was "a distinct honor and privilege" to serve as president. He will assume a position as a tenured faculty member in the history department, and his new salary is expected to be voted on by trustees at a meeting Friday.

When Hogan was hired, Kennedy called him "a rare find, a top-flight leader capable of moving the university forward." Hogan was given a five-year contract and a salary that grew to $651,000 this year. He called the Illinois job "a dream come true."

"I'm here until the end. Where would I go from the University of Illinois? I'm at the top," Hogan said in May 2010.

But he alienated faculty and staff, particularly at the Urbana-Champaign campus, almost from day one, where in town hall meetings and other forums he described the university system as broken and portrayed himself as the savior who would fix it. As president, Hogan oversees the university's three campuses: Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.

He began centralizing some functions such as information technology and human resources, and faculty at the flagship Urbana-Champaign campus became concerned that talk of "branding" the university system as a whole would lead to a loss of distinction and autonomy at the individual campuses.

"He did not understand the culture of the University of Illinois, and it got him into trouble," said UIC biochemistry professor Donald Chambers, chair of the University Senates Conference. "Almost from the get-go, he began to have problems."

Simmering discontent became a full-fledged crisis in January when his chief of staff and longtime confidante, Lisa Troyer, resigned after anonymous, inflammatory emails sent to a key faculty group were traced to her computer. She denies writing or sending the emails.

The emails tried to influence faculty debate on one of Hogan's key initiatives: changing the university's student enrollment strategies to provide more centralizing of admissions and financial aid processing among the three campuses.

Faculty said the enrollment controversy was symptomatic of a larger problem of what they described as Hogan's arrogant, manipulative leadership style and bullying of people who disagreed with him. They pointed to emails released under public records requests that show him chastising the chancellor for her inability to allay faculty concerns about the enrollment issue.

Hogan backed down on the most controversial details of the enrollment plan earlier this week, a decision applauded by the faculty. But it was too late.

"The realization that rebuilding trust wasn't going to happen became clear to everybody. ... I'm amazed at the speed by which the board acted," said U. of I. engineering professor Charles Zukowski, one of the endowed professors who signed the letters criticizing Hogan.

Zukowski said a second presidential resignation is problematic.

"I do think it's bad for the university," he said. "Certainly all my academic contacts around the country are going, 'What is going on at Illinois?'"

Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, said Hogan could no longer weather the discontent of the faculty once the board decided his missteps were beyond repair.

"Faculty grumbling is a time-honored tradition in higher education. I think it just ultimately became too much," Hartle said. "You don't lose your jobs as president because you lose the confidence of the faculty. When the board (of trustees) loses confidence is when the president usually leaves."

On March 30, Hogan was to face the faculty senate at Urbana-Champaign, and by all accounts, it was going to be a contentious meeting. It was canceled Thursday after Hogan resigned.

"It's very sad that things had to reach this point," said U. of I. education professor Nicholas Burbules, a faculty senator. "I respect the fact that President Hogan did what was right for the university ? it must have been very difficult for him."

Tribune reporter Andy Grimm contributed.

jscohen@tribune.com

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-u-of-i-president-20120323,0,3259498.story?track=rss

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