[Peace] cross your fingers, tomorrow (Thursday, November 13, 2014) the U of I Board of Trustees might vote on the James Kilgore case

[Karen Medina via Peace]

On Monday, November 10, 2014 about 70 Friends of James Kilgore held a press
conference outside the Henry Adminstration building on the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus. They encouraged the Board of Trustees,
meeting this Thursday, to reinstate Dr. Kilgore.

After a right-wing attack in the local newspaper, Kilgore was fired this
last Spring. He is not allowed to teach or work at the University of
Illinois.

A story at *Inside Higher Education*
<https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/10/u-illinois-board-receives-report-recommending-reappointment-ex-convict>
was
published today with news of a final report regarding Kilgore’s hiring, as
well as an interview with him responding. We are also publishing a copy of
the report from the committee appointed by Provost Ilesanmi Adesida  and
chaired by Professor Matthew Wheeler.

You can read the full report here: Adesida Committee-Hiring Process Review
— May 2014(6)
<http://publici.ucimc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Adesida-Committee-Hiring-Process-Review-May-20146.pdf>

Below is the statement by William Sullivan [pictured above], a UIUC
professor in Landscape Architecture and member of the Friends of James
Kilgore.

"Good morning, my name is William Sullivan. I’m a professor of Landscape
Architecture in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. I’ll provide some
background and comments this morning followed by Professors Merle Bowen, D.
Fairchild Ruggles, and Teresa Barnes.

"On behalf of the Friends of James Kilgore, we thank all of you for coming
out today to show your support. We also appreciate the many of thousands of
people on our campus and beyond who have signed petitions, written email
messages to the BOT, and taken other actions to seek Dr. Kilgore’s
reinstatement at the University.

"This is a long story, but let me start in the middle by taking you back to
last April. It was then that Provost Adesida told Dr. Kilgore that he would
no longer be employed by the University. But on May 13th, largely in
response to the public outcry over the removal of Dr. Kilgore, Provost
Adesida established a committee tasked with reviewing “the hiring processes
that were used by the Urbana campus, and relevant campus units, for the
prior and current employment appointments of James Kilgore.”

"The Provost also charged the committee with providing “findings regarding
how employment decisions were made and conclusions regarding the adequacy
of hiring policies and processes that were followed.”

"In addition, the Provost asked the committee to look more closely at the
policies for evaluating criminal background in future employment. Professor
Ruggles will speak about that part of the committee’s work. I will focus on
the committee’s review of Dr. Kilgore’s employment.

"The committee was chaired by Professor Matthew Wheeler of the Department
of Animal Sciences. It is clear from reading their report that the
committee systematically and energetically addressed each of the tasks
identified by the provost. Indeed, they interviewed everyone who was in any
way directly involved in employing Dr. Kilgore over the past four years.

"Their findings are no surprise. They concluded that 'the practices used to
hire Mr. Kilgore complied with and followed the accepted policies and
practices in place at the time of his various appointments.'

"They further noted that 'all indications are that Mr. Kilgore voluntarily
disclosed his prior use of an alias and was open about his criminal
convictions...'

Based on these findings, the committee made the following conclusions and
recommendations:

'The record demonstrates that Mr. Kilgore has been a successful employee
and has contributed to the scholarly and educational missions of the campus
in the academic hourly and visiting specialized faculty positions that he
has held over the last four years.'

"The committee concludes by recommending that 'Mr. Kilgore be allowed to
continue to be employed by the university in accordance with the policies
that apply to all individuals seeking employment. Specifically we would
endorse the professional judgments of units wishing to hire Mr. Kilgore
during the Fall 2014 semester pursuant to the hiring practices currently in
place.'

"Let me put this in plain English. The committee found that:

"• No errors were made

"• No corners were cut

"• No policies were violated in hiring Dr. Kilgore over these past four
years.

"• In light of these findings, the committee has called upon the University
to re-instate Dr. Kilgore.

"It is our understanding that the Board of Trustees is planning to consider
a resolution regarding Dr. Kilgore’s employment at their meeting this
Thursday, November 13th. Our understanding is that the Board will consider
the findings and recommendations of the review committee. We call on the
Board of Trustees to do the following four things:

"1. Follow the recommendations of the committee and reinstate Dr. Kilgore
immediately. This debacle has carried on for far too long. Dr. Kilgore has
been denied any income from university employment since May 15th and our
university has been denied the skills and experience of an important
scholar and an instructor who has twice appeared on the excellent teacher
list.

"2. Issue a public statement commending the review committee for its work
and findings.

"3. Refrain from further interference in the hiring decisions made by
executive officers and Deans.

"4. Recognize the authority of campus administration to carry out their
designated duties and responsibilities and remember that the University
Statues indicate that the BOT should set policies and secure funding for
the University. They should not be engaged in micro- managing our campus or
any of the three campuses.

"As you all know, in recent months our campus has experienced a crisis of
confidence in our BOT and a series of threats to our academic freedom.
Indeed, the unfortunate decision to un- hire Professor Stephen Salaita has
caused many in our ranks to question the Board’s commitment to academic
freedom and transparent decision-making.

"In the case of Dr. Kilgore and the report commissioned by the Provost, the
Board of Trustees has the opportunity to return to the fundamental
principles of how a world class university should operate or continue down
a path which will further divide and demoralize faculty and students and
undermine our ability to carry out our mission.

"It is time for the BOT to re-read the University Statues and return to
their traditional role of setting policy and securing funds for our three
campuses. They need to get out of the business of micro-managing. We call
on them to act on the recommendations of the faculty committee and to
immediately reinstate Dr. Kilgore.

"That completes my comments. I’ll be happy to take questions after my
colleagues have spoken. Now let me call forward Professor Merle Bowen,
Director of Center for African Studies."

The following is the Statement by Dr. Merle Bowen
<http://www.ucimc.org/files/uploadedimages/Merle%20Bowen%20statement%20on%20James%20Kilgore.pdf>

"My name is Merle Bowen and I am the Director of the Center for African
Studies, a position I have held for the last six years.

"In 2011, I hired Dr. James Kilgore as an academic hourly. During the three
years he was employed at the Center, he performed his work effectively and
fulfilled his duties far beyond expectation. In April 2014, despite his
sterling job performance, the then Interim Dean of Liberal Arts and
Sciences informed me that the Administration had decided that I and other
heads of units (specifically, the Director of the LAS Global Studies
Program and the head of Urban and Regional Planning) could not renew Dr.
Kilgore’s contract—without an explanation as to why, how, and by whom this
decision had been made. A month later, Provost Adesida appointed a
committee to review the hiring processes that were used by campus units for
the employment appointments of Dr. Kilgore. The committee, chaired by
Professor Matthew Wheeler of the Department of Animal Sciences, worked
diligently over the summer and submitted their report to the Provost in
August 2014.

"The Friends of James Kilgore support the rigor and comprehensive nature of
the committee's work and their report. We support their conclusions with
respect to Dr. Kilgore's future employment at the University of Illinois.

"As the committee report has shown, the Center for African Studies of which
I am the Director, as well as the other units which employed Dr. Kilgore,
followed "the accepted policies and practices in place at the time of his
various appointments." Furthermore, as I told the committee during my
interview, Dr. Kilgore fully disclosed his background to me at the time we
proposed hiring him. This background was also fully disclosed to the Dean
of LAS at the time.

"We also concur with the findings that Dr. Kilgore has been a "successful
employee and has contributed to the scholarly and educational missions of
the campus." At the Center for African Studies, he wrote numerous
successful grant proposals and played a leading role in developing our U.S.
Department of Education Title VI application that was funded in the amount
of $2.2 million, putting us on a sound financial footing for the next four
years. In addition, he played a key role in conceptualizing and delivering
our outreach and educational programs, as well as serving as the main
organizer for our highly visible international conferences on campus.

"We hope that the Board of Trustees will follow the findings and
recommendations of the committee, which the Provost agrees with, and that
Dr. James Kilgore "be allowed to continue to be employed by the
University." He is a tremendous asset to our programs and we at the Center
for African Studies are eager to have him back in our ranks."

Statement by Dr. Teresa Barnes
<http://www.ucimc.org/files/uploadedimages/Terri%20Barnes%20Statement%20on%20James%20Kilgore.pdf>
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