Michael Hogan Resigns

Michael Hogan has resigned. I confess that this comes as a surprised to me (some of my fellow Hounds are not).

Hogan was a disappointment. Not because of what he did, but what he did not do. He did nothing to fix the scandal that caused his predecessor's demise-he never fired White, Herman, Hurd, or any of the others involved. He never fired Ghosh, ask questions about Frerich's appointment. He never fired Renee Romano or Anna Gonzalez. David Green is still collecting a pay check for...something. He has not lowered tuition, improved quality of applicants, nor brought any kind of faith in the U of ILL back to the people of Illinois. 

Oh yes he did manage to fire Dr. Howell. There is that.

Posted by Alpha Hound

Congratulations Gordy Hulten (Redux)

Gordy Hulten is in the news again, this time to take over for Mark Sheldon as Champaign County Clerk.

Sheldon was one of the few to raise concerns about some of the hanky-panky over there at the U of ILL and in Champaign by Clouter Mike Frerichs, who along with Fox/Atkins, Avijit Ghosh, and BJ White gets his wife a clout job in the business park. And there was John Cullerton, who gets family members of Tony Rezko into the U of Clout with the help of Richard Herman and (again) BJ White. We only hope that Mr. Hulten will serve the people of ILL as well as his predecessor and not resort to political shenanigans as those mentioned above did.

So for the second time, we wish Mr. Hulten the best (though we do miss his blog, which is now, for all intents and purposes, defunct. And its spiritual successor, "Halfway-Interesting"-is just that).

Posted by Alpha Hound

One Ikenberry Enough for Now

Interim President of the U of ILL, Stan Ikenberry, personally scuttled an expensive project, that would put a large statue of himself in the renovated Ikenberry Commons (formerly the so-called “Six Pack” dormitory bloc). Ikenberry’s rationale for the move, said Tom Hardy, was "he didn't want to generate any ill will toward the university or put the university in an embarrassing situation."

We very much had to chuckle at the irony of this. From clout, to cover-up, to numerous free speech violations, to underhanded dealing, to discrimination, to insider advancement, etc. It would be awfully presumptious for any member or part of the university to believe the UI has any angstrom of ethics and credibility left to protect.

Nevertheless, Ikenberry should be applauded for his decision in this matter, and we wish that he and other would follow suit more often.

Posted by Alpha Hound

Update

As of this point, the DI made no mention of Laura Frerichs' salary in this catalog that we could find. Nor did it print the reason for Ghosh's removal as Dean of the College of Business.

Posted by No. 9

[Update 3/29/2010 by user: Alpha Hound]

Per the Alpha Hound's request, this post rectifies the above posting. The DI's expose did indeed post Frerichs' salary. It was under UIUC Research Park, not under administration as we thought it should be, Her posted salary is $121,500. We apologize for the oversight and the incorrect implication.

Posted by No. 9

More Clout at UI

State Senator Michael Frerichs has apparently joined the clout list at the UI. Although denying any involvement, Frerichs' wife has a now six-figure income job at the UI college of business.

Not that this any surprise at the UI of lately, but it certainly is suspicious. to be fair, over at IlliniPundit, there is skepticism that this would be an issue if not for the selling of admissions at the UI. But by the same line of thought, it would not be an issue if there was no admissions scandal (which there certainly is).

Posted by Hound No. 3

***Update***
Hound No. 3 incorrectly posted that Laura Frerichs' position is in the College of Business, something also incorrectly posted on IlliniPundit. Frerich's new position is actually in Administration, not CoB. We apologize for the error and misinformation.

Posted by Alpha Hound