Illinois
The Swanlund Building
The architect of the Lester H. Swanlund Administration Building- Unteed, Scaggs, Fritch, Nelson, Ltd- did an excellent job in creating a space that fits its occupants. Its Brutalist architecture and black tinted windows complement the behaviors of our institution’s elusive administrators.
An average UI undergraduate student sees the Chancellor twice in his college career: convocation and commencement. There is no meaningful interaction, only massmails that are used to maintain the University’s public relations image. As students with rising tuition and fees, however, we did pay his $350,000 base salary.
Why I love people who chalk the quad…
None of my 9am classes never really leave me feeling engaged or excited to learn. That’s why much of the time I have my head down after walking out of lecture, and am lucky enough to see some of the many chalk and stencil markings that line the quad.
I learn something new each day- today I learned that “ROTC discriminates against gays”. (Not something I would doubt)
Four U of I alums named to the BoT
Governor Quinn has named four new members to the BoT, all of whom are U of I alumni.
The new members are:
- Former Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara
- Timothy Koritz, a staff anesthesiologist at Rockford Memorial Hospital
- Pamela Strobel, retired executive vice president and chief administrative office of Exelon
- Carlos Tortolero, the president of the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Question for the Carmenites
This blog has become one forum for Ira Carmenites to discuss how much they thought of him. I have had the benefit of taking courses with many extraordinary professors over the years, and in Political Science two stand above the rest. One is Carmen, and the other is a community college professor in Decatur Illinois named Larry Klugman. I’m also lucky that both of these greats correspond with me from time to time. A few days ago Klugman forwarded an email to a group of his friends and asked, “If you heard on the news I was convicted of a crime, what crime would it be.” He was very entertained by the series of answers he received. Maybe Professor Carmen would be too.
So here’s the question:
If you heard on the news tomorrow that Ira Carmen were arrested, what crime would you be most likely to assume he committed?
Have fun with it.
What if Herman and White were Both Fired Tomorrow?
As the U of I community debates whether or not Chancellor Herman and President White should be fired or forced to resign from their positions, some have argued that if would pose a huge continuity problem for the University of Illinois if the two top dogs had to be replaced at the same time.
At the core of the position of Chancellor and President are the following roles: the public face, the fundraiser, the community leader, the provider of values and vision, and the public servant. White and Herman can no longer effectively play these roles. Both have violated the public trust, forever tainted their own integrity, diminished their effectiveness as fundraisers, embarrassed themselves and the university, and enraged lawmakers in Springfield who are now less likely to fund us (with the added excuse of not wanting to pay inflated salaries of these jokers). There is no question that White and Herman cannot provide the people of Illinois with the best possible leadership of the University of Illinois. This is the most important criteria the BoT and Pat Quinn should use when determining whether White and Herman should be retained.
Although anytime any leader of a bureaucracy the size of the University of Illinois is replaced there will necessarily be a transition period, here the resulting administrative hiccup would be much less damaging than retaining Richard Herman and B. Joe White. White and Herman aren’t exactly steering the boat alone. The University has an ever-expanding army of senior administrative personnel who can keep the wheels going round even if we had to name an Interim-President and Interim-Chancellor tomorrow. Read more…
Emily Frank’s response to my letter in the Daily Illini
I appreciate Emily’s response (http://bit.ly/3inYm) to my letter in the Daily Illini (http://bit.ly/1uZudn) , but I’d love to know— what vested interest does she have in defending Housing’s utterly pitiful response to Thursday’s flood?
She’s not a housing resident (as she mentioned in her letter) and lives in a house. Frank can in no way compare her situation to our situation at Allen. Living in a house means that the resident is responsible for most maintenance issues. Living in University Housing means that the University is responsible for all maintenance issues.
Thank you Professor Fireman
This is an open “thank you letter” to Professor Fireman, of the Statistics Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
Dear Professor Fireman,
I’m currently enrolled in your Stat 100 class at UIUC. Thank you for your policy on textbooks. When I entered your lecture on the first day, I had with me a copy of the 4th edition of “Statistics” by Freedman. This book was listed as “required” by the Illini Union Bookstore, and carried a price tag of over $90 dollars.
After class started, you asked us if anybody had purchased the book. I raised my hand, and you told me to come down to the front of the lecture hall. You asked me how much I paid, and I said $95. Your response…? “You just paid $85 too much for that book.” Read more…
ALLEN HALL UPDATE- 8/29/09 @ 1:32 AM
It’s 1:32 AM and I presume most of my friends are hitting up Sammy, ZBT, and AEPi… I got back from an enjoyable evening at Hillel and Chabad and…alas… the situation in my hall hasn’t changed. The “carpet dryers” are still stationed in the same places, the carpet is soaking wet, and the stench of mold has only gotten worse. I’ve put in emails to University Housing to no avail. Given that we’re paying such a high rate to live in Allen Hall, shouldn’t we be receiving services comparable to those at Illini Tower or Bromley?
Obviously not in the view of the University of Illinois.
What happened at Allen Hall?
The scene in ground south soon after the waters began rushing in
Hi! I’m a political science major living in Allen Hall (and am a freshman). I look forward to blogging about what I think is right and wrong with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. First off… what happened at Allen Hall last night?
It seemed to be an idyllic evening for me- no homework, no reading, and no studying. I was even able to spend a few enjoyable minutes camped out in the CRCE hot tub. The rain came, and us carefree college students enjoyed a moment of uncomplicated bliss splashing around in the four inch puddle that was beginning to form. Where would those puddles go you might ask? All of the residents of ground south and the staff members in the Unit One hallway would soon find out.
Response to “Clout goes to College”
Today the Trib printed a damaging expose titled “clout goes to college” on the practice of trading on clout to admit unqualified students to the University of Illinois. I encourage anyone who loves the University of Illinois to read the story and take a look at the exhibits.
A Tribune investigation which included FOIA requests uncovered hard, damning evidence that the U of I is admitting unqualified students, while turning away qualified students. The Trib cites a clout list of over 160 students, but even one student getting special treatment is too many.
Leading a state university is a position of public trust. Administrators have a duty to use basic fairness and equality when admitting students. Richard Herman and B. Joe White are accountable to all the people of Illinois–to all taxpayers–not just the ones with clout. Imagine if they were outright selling admission to our competitive law school or business school–trading a seat in the class for an envelope of cash. In truth, trading for political influence isn’t altogether different. Especially when those they are catering to are the same people who set their over-inflated salaries.
While it’s true this practice predates the current administration, it doesn’t excuse our leaders from compromising their principle and tarnishing the integrity of the institution. Whether or not we traded clout for admission in the past, the practice is wrong and must stop. Whether or not other schools do it to, the practice is wrong and must stop.
If Richard Herman and B. Joe White were men of character they would acknowledge that they owe an apology and an explanation to all of the rejected students with credentials superior to the “Category I” admittees.