U. of I. Chancellor Herman resigns, will join faculty

University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman resigned today in the latest fallout from an admissions scandal that has rattled the Urbana-Champaign campus and upended its leadership.

Herman's resignation is effective Monday, Oct. 26, according to U. of I. spokesman Tom Hardy.

Herman, 67, was the principal enforcer of a shadow admissions system that allowed subpar but well-connected students to get into the state's premier public school. His resignation follows that of U. of I. President B. Joseph White, and six university trustees also have been replaced in the wake of the scandal.

Herman will continue to receive his current salary in a new position: special assistant to the interim president, Hardy said. But he will forgo a $300,000 retention bonus that was due in June.

In June, when his chancellor contract would have been up, he will take a one-year paid sabbatical at a new faculty salary of $244,444. The following year, he will be required to teach two courses a year as a tenured mathematics professor, fewer than his original contract that called for teaching four courses a year.

"This is per the revised employment agreement," Hardy said. The revised agreement is to be acted on Friday during an executive committee meeting of the university's board of trustees, Hardy said.

Herman was arguably more involved in preferential admissions than any other administrator.

He oversaw the special undergraduate admissions process, known internally as "Category I," beginning when he was provost and continuing when he moved into the chancellor's office about five years ago. He overruled his admissions staff in deciding to admit students connected to university trustees, lawmakers and other powerful people.

Herman said in a speech last month that he had "seriously considered" resigning during the summer, but instead decided "to fight doggedly for the chance to stay at my work." He said he believed he "was serving the greater good" of the university by not alienating powerful people who wanted favors and "went off course with good intentions."

In August, a state commission that investigated U. of I.'s irregular admissions practices found that Herman was "the ultimate decision-maker" for clouted applicants. The commission's report stopped short of calling for Herman's resignation, instead leaving his fate in the hands of a newly reconstituted Board of Trustees.

The student and faculty Senate then voted to urge the trustees to replace him. Prior to the Senate vote in September, Herman asked the group to judge him on all of his accomplishments. Still, he acknowledged: "I let you down."

He said that when he considered his accomplishments against his failings, "it pained me to realize that I will likely be as much remembered for having helped the offspring of the privileged few as for having put hundreds of poor children through college."

As chancellor, Herman started the Illinois Promise, a financial aid program that covers tuition, fees, housing and books for students with family incomes below $50,000. More than 1,000 students have been part of the Illinois Promise program.

In 2008, Herman was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Among the revelations about admissions abuses was that about 800 undergraduate applicants received special consideration, at times getting their denial decisions overturned.

Dozens more graduate school candidates benefited from their political connections, university records show.

Herman described such favoritism as "not equitable and transparent" when he testified before the state panel. But he initially downplayed the process, saying Category I applicants had a higher rate of admission - 77 percent versus 69 percent for the general applicant pool last year -- "simply because we have more information about them."

Internal e-mails and university documents reveal the extent to which Herman was involved. He tried to appease the law school dean, who didn't want to admit the subpar students, by offering scholarship money to recruit better students and jobs for students at the bottom of the class.

He forced the 2006 admission of an unqualified law school applicant backed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor's go-between, then-trustee Lawrence Eppley, that jobs would be provided for five low-ranking law school graduates. Herman described the proposal as an attempt to mitigate the admission's impact on the law school's ranking.

"This was a bad moment for me personally," Herman testified before the commission.

In 2007, Herman helped secure a high-paying university job for former board Chairman Niranjan Shah's future son-in-law, a Dutch citizen seeking work in the United States. Herman dipped into campus reserves to cover the $115,000 annual salary.

Earlier this summer, several dozen faculty and community members signed letters supporting Herman. One of the letters, signed by 48 of the campus' most recognized faculty, called Herman one of "the country's top academic leaders" and lauded him for "his extraordinary leadership in promoting education, research, outreach and economic development."

It praised his abilities in recruiting and retaining faculty and securing large donations and grants.

Herman came to Urbana-Champaign in 1998 to serve as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Prior to joining U. of I., Herman was dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland at College Park from 1990 to 1998. He was chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University from 1986 to 1990.

-- Jodi S. Cohen and Stacy St. Clair

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