U of I Chancellor stepping down

While four years isn’t extraordinarily short for a presidential tenure these days, resignations from college or university presidencies typically involve much longer lead time than a week.

Early in 2014, Wise was involved in a campus controversy in which she affirmed the values of civility, but also of free speech on social media – even offensive comments.

Coming in 2018: The engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine, which Carle CEO James Leonard said “would not have happened without Phyllis Wise and her willingness to put herself out there” for a “game-changer”. “I have concluded that these issues are diverting much needed energy and attention from our goals”.

As for a permanent replacement, Hardy said a search will begin immediately but could take anywhere from six to nine months for a new chancellor to be named.

Wise cited a range of “external issues” she says have become a distraction for the school, The Associated Press reported. “I anticipate a smooth transition in leadership and dedicate myself to working closely with internal and external stakeholder groups-faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors and community leaders-during the process”. However, a university spokesman told the I-Team “she will receive a prorated $400,000 of the retention compensation in a negotiated agreement”. She will now take a year’s sabbatical before returning to join the faculty at a salary to be determined. She is a professor of physiology and biophysics, biology, and obstetrics and gynecology, and had been provost at Washington since 2005.

But over the past year, Wise and the university’s flagship campus have faced a string of problems.

While the judge dismissed a couple of Salaita’s claims, the lawsuit will move forward with its core arguments intact, leaving open the possibility that the university will be found to have violated his first amendment rights as well as a legally binding contract.