U of I chancellor not gone and not forgotten

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As the old Roy Clark song goes, “Thank God and Greyhound you’re gone.” Well, that’s not the case with former U of I Chancellor Richard Herman.

He’s moving from being the ultimate decision maker for clout-heavy but academically unqualified applicants to becoming a “special assistant to the interim president” that will allow him to keep his $400,000 salary through June.

However, we should feel sorry for Mr. Herman because his resignation agreement has caused him to give up his $300,000 retention bonus.

He will recover from that, though; he’s taking a year’s sabbatical (a year off with pay) for which he will be paid $240,000 (for not working), and then he’s going to bring his high-paid talents to the College of Education, where he will concentrate on the quality of teachers going into the sciences.

Imagine, Richard Herman being responsible for the quality of anyone. The mind reels. Here’s a morally corrupt, discredited old man reaping more than a million dollars from us, the taxpayers, after he has been found to have no regard for the standards of the institution that’s employing him.

Remember the outrage over Chief Illiniwek? Here’s an egregious example of moral decay that’s being ignored. Richard Herman and Joseph White have, in a sense, spit all over the feet of the alma mater, and no one has come to the defense of the university.

Chief Illiniwek has been replaced as the symbol of the U of I by an academically weak but politically connected anonymous undergrad who, by accident of birth, has taken the place of a more deserving applicant.

Think about Mr. Herman and his ilk the next time the U of I starts crying for a tuition increase. Not exactly money well-spent, is it?

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