[Peace] Fwd: [New post] Wise throws down the gauntlet, consults with lawyers over her legal “options” against UIUC

Fri Aug 14 01:12:41 EDT 2015

Is this a war an peace issue? Not that I can tell, but the post by Cory Robin is an enlightening discussion of the University’s present “ironic" predicaments.

—mkb

Begin forwarded message:

From: Corey Robin <donotreply at wordpress.com<mailto:donotreply at wordpress.com>>
Subject: [New post] Wise throws down the gauntlet, consults with lawyers over her legal “options” against UIUC
Date: August 13, 2015 at 11:21:32 PM CDT
To: mkb3 at mac.com<mailto:mkb3 at mac.com>

Corey Robin posted: "In a stunning turn of events at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the chancellor who hired the professor, then fired the professor by claiming he had never been hired in the first place; who resigned in the wake of an ethics investigation an"

New post on Corey Robin
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Wise throws down the gauntlet, consults with lawyers over her legal “options” against UIUC<http://coreyrobin.com/2015/08/14/wise-throws-down-the-gauntlet-consults-with-lawyers-over-her-legal-options-against-uiuc/>
by Corey Robin<http://coreyrobin.com/?author=1>

In a stunning turn of events at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-08-13/wise-rejects-special-advisor-role-resubmits-resignation.html>, the chancellor who hired the professor, then fired the professor by claiming he had never been hired in the first place; who resigned in the wake of an ethics investigation and growing scandal over her use of a personal email account (and destruction of emails) in order to hide evidence related to pending litigation over the firing of the professor; whose resignation was the rejected by the UI Board of Trustees so that they could formally fire her instead (and thereby avoid paying her a $400,000 bonus previously agreed upon), is now resubmitting her resignation to UIUC and consulting with lawyers in order to consider her legal options and protect her reputation from the very university that, under her leadership, systematically destroyed the reputation of the professor she fired by claiming he had never been hired in the first place.

Let's back up.

Last Thursday, Phyllis Wise resigned from her position<http://coreyrobin.com/2015/08/06/on-the-one-year-anniversary-of-the-salaita-story-some-good-news/> as chancellor of UIUC. The immediate cause, it seemed, was a federal judge's ruling that day against UIUC's motion to dismiss Steven Salaita's lawsuit. The judge held in no uncertain terms that UIUC's claim that it had never truly hired Salaita—and thus had not denied him the academic freedom and free speech rights it was bound to honor—was horse manure.

By Friday, however, it became clear that there may have been another reason for Wise's resignation. UIUC released 1100 pages of emails<http://coreyrobin.com/2015/08/07/chancellor-wise-forced-to-release-emails-from-personal-account/>, many related to the Salaita case, that Wise had sent from her personal account—and that she (or they) had not previously released as they had been obligated to do. In one of those emails, Wise admits that she had been warned by UIUC officials not to use UIUC email "since we are now in the litigation phase," that she was "even being careful with this email address [her personal account]," and that she was even "deleting after sending" emails.

It was also announced that day that UIUC had conducted an internal ethics probe<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-08-07/updated-wise-fallout-ui-releases-ethics-inquiry-personal-email-accounts.html> of Wise's behavior regarding the emails.

In the next few days, two controversies exploded.

The first was over the email revelations<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-phyllis-wise-violate-universitys-criminal-warning-over-salaita-emails>, which not only cast Wise in the potentially criminal role of destroying—or "spoliating"—evidence relevant to a federal lawsuit but also potentially undermined, and rather severely so, UIUC's own position in the Salaita lawsuit.

The second involved the $400,000 bonus Wise had managed to extract from UI President Timothy Killeen<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-university-of-illinois-phyllis-wise-bonus-20150810-story.html#page=1> for herself upon her departure. Everyone from the governor of Illinois, who sits on the UIUC Board of Trustees, to Chris Kennedy, the former chair of the Board, criticized the massive payout to Wise. In Kennedy's words:

I wouldn't give someone $400,000 to leave peaceably if they (did what she did). My belief is that those emails will reveal behavior that should be investigated. This is actionable information. You can fire someone for cause for this. When have we started giving money to people who (do this)?

Yesterday, the Board reconsidered the payout to Wise<http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trustees-committee-rejects-400000-bonus-wise-33045581>. Hoping to avoid litigation (the terms of her contract seemed to stipulate that she was due some kind of bonus upon departure), the Board refused her resignation, made an arrangement for her to assume another position in the university, and voted to initiate proceedings to dismiss her. The operating assumption seemed to be that if the proceedings were successfully concluded against her, Wise would have no standing to sue for breach of contract.

Now we come to tonight's stunning turn of events<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-08-13/wise-rejects-special-advisor-role-resubmits-resignation.html>. Wise has rejected the university's offer of a temporary position, has resubmitted her letter of resignation, and has issued the following statement:

In the past week, the news media has reported that I and other campus personnel used personal email accounts to communicate about University business; some reports suggested I did so with illegal intentions or personal motivations. This is simply false. I acted at all times in what I believed to be the best interests of the University. In fact, many of these same communications included campus counsel, Board members, and other campus leaders.

...

On Tuesday, in the spirit of placing the University first, I acceded to the Board’s and the President’s request that I tender my resignation. In return, the University agreed to provide the compensation and benefits to which I was entitled, including $400,000 in deferred compensation that was part of my 2011 employment contract. The $400,000 was not a bonus nor a golden parachute; it was a retention incentive that I earned on a yearly basis.

...

Yesterday, in a decision apparently motivated more by politics than the interests of the University, the Board reneged on the promises in our negotiated agreement and initiated termination proceedings. This action was unprecedented, unwarranted, and completely contrary to the spirit of our negotiations last week. I have no intention, however, of engaging the Board in a public debate that would ultimately harm the University and the many people who have devoted time and hard work to its critical mission. Accordingly, I have again tendered my resignation as Chancellor and will decline the administrative position as advisor to the President.

These recent events have saddened me deeply. I had intended to finish my career at this University, overseeing the fulfillment of groundbreaking initiatives we had just begun. Instead, I find myself consulting with lawyers and considering options to protect my reputation in the face of the Board’s position. I continue to wish the best for this great institution, its marvelous faculty, its committed staff, and its talented students.

Long story short: she's calling her lawyers, preparing her next move against the University. One expert on these matters predicts she will sue<http://Among%20Wise's%20options,%20she%20could%20accept%20the%20decisions%20of%20the%20trustees%20and%20Killeen%20and%20report%20to%20work,%20walk%20away,%20or%20take%20legal%20action,%20legal%20experts%20said.%20%20Ray%20Cotton,%20a%20Washington,%20D.C.%20lawyer%20who%20represents%20both%20presidents%20and%20boards%20of%20trustees%20around%20the%20country%20in%20employment%20negotiations,%20believes%20Wise%20is%20likely%20to%20sue,%20and%20should%20if%20she%20wants%20to%20keep%20working.%20Cotton%20doesn't%20represent%20Wise%20or%20the%20university.%20%20Being%20fired%20usually%20means%20"no%20longer%20being%20hirable%20for%20a%20top-level%20administrative%20post%20in%20higher%20education,"%20he%20said.>. And UI's President Killeen admits that the trustees' move against her, in the words of ABC News<http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trustees-committee-rejects-400000-bonus-wise-33045581>, "could bring more litigation."

This story has more irony than a Brecht play. In no particular order.

1. Salaita is hired but then is told, no, you're not really hired, so that he can be fired. Wise is forced to resign, but then is told, no, you're not really resigned, so that she can be fired.

2. Wise complains that not only is she the victim of a university administration that puts politics above principles and reneges on its contracts with its employees—all true, by the way—but that such actions are also "unprecedented."

3. Suddenly, the UI Board of Trustees is concerned about contracts with its employees<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-08-12/updated-little-used-dismissal-process-underway-wise.html>.

[Chair of the UI Board of Trustees Ed] McMillan said that his primary concern in negotiations with Wise was to be in compliance with her employment contract.

"That was the important thing from my standpoint, was trying as best we could to be in compliance with the agreement that she signed four years ago. That was the part I was very concerned about," he said. "The lawyers were concerned about that also."

4. In an article on Wise's situation earlier today, before this latest news was announced, Inside Higher Ed <https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/13/u-illinois-board-rejects-400000-deal-outgoing-chancellor?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1944330b5f-DNU20150813&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1944330b5f-197499385> devoted four full paragraphs to the, well, read for yourself:

But Raymond Cotton, a lawyer who specializes in contract negotiations on behalf of college and university presidents, was critical of the Illinois board. Wise is not Cotton's client, and he said he doesn't know the details of her contract or the board's thinking. But he predicted that Wednesday's developments will hurt the university.

Boards and presidents sometimes need to part ways, he said. And presidents may be less likely to do so if they think an agreement they make won't be honored. And this in turn will affect the way the university is seen by potential candidates to succeed Wise. "As soon as Dr. Wise is gone, the board is going to be looking for a new president," Cotton said. "What my clients tell me is that one of the key decision points is to look at how the board treated the prior president."

Further, Cotton said that $400,000 may seem like a lot of money, but that the university was going to get "closure" for paying that sum. Instead, he said, the university may face other costs. "When presidents are fired for cause, they have nothing left to lose, so these cases end up in litigation, and that's expensive, time-consuming and generally ends up being injurious to the reputation of the university."

Cotton also said that academics should not be quick to cheer the board's actions, whatever they think of Wise. University leaders made a deal with Wise and backed out after getting pressure from the governor and other politicians, he noted. "It is rarely in the best interest of a university for a board to yield to political interference by elected politicians," Cotton said. "A question for the board is: Have they turned over their responsibilities to politicians?"

All this concern for how the Trustees' move against Wise may negatively affect UIUC's ability to recruit future presidents and chancellors. Not a word about how UIUC's actions against Steven Salaita<https://www.facebook.com/steven.salaita> have already—not hypothetically but demonstrably— affected its ability to recruit graduate students, speakers, and new faculty. And all reported without any hint of irony. The pains of power are registered so precisely here. And those of the not-so-powerful?

In the meantime, the boycott continues<http://coreyrobin.com/2015/08/08/keeping-kosher-and-the-salaita-boycott/>. Just four days ago, another professor refused an invitation to speak at the UIUC<https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153185297952572&set=a.10151016094607572.422585.515497571&type=1>.

Corey Robin<http://coreyrobin.com/?author=1> | August 14, 2015 at 12:21 am | Tags: Chancellor Wise<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=chancellor-wise>, Chris Kennedy<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=chris-kennedy>, Steven Salaita<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=steven-salaita>, UIUC<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=uiuc> | Categories: Education<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=category&term=education>, Middle East<http://coreyrobin.com/?taxonomy=category&term=middle-east> | URL: http://wp.me/p5IQfX-1TD
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