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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration on Tuesday pushed University of Illinois trustees to reject a deal that would pay Chancellor Phyllis Wise a $400,000 bonus when she resigns.
The move led one trustee to say that Wise might not deserve the bonus, but pressure from the governor's office could be seen as a threat, given the state's role in financing the university.
Deputy Gov. Trey Childress wrote Tuesday to Ed McMillan, who is chairman of the board of trustees overseeing the university and one of three trustees who will meet Wednesday to weigh Wise's resignation as the top official at the flagship Urbana-Champaign campus and her bonus.
The letter expresses "deep reservations" about the deal.
"The university is facing many challenges and needs to begin charting a new path," Childress wrote. "Our administration believes the proposed resignation agreement would be a major step in the wrong direction and against the best interest of the" university or the state.
McMillan and fellow trustees Karen Hasara and James Montgomery make up the trustees' executive committee, which is scheduled to vote on Wise's resignation Wednesday and name an interim successor.
Neither McMillan nor Hasara returned calls seeking comment.
But Montgomery, while acknowledging the governor's role as a member of the full board of trustees, complained about the pressure from outside the university.
"It's a double-edged sword — it's a respected opinion, and it's political interference with university life," said Montgomery, the longest-serving member of the board. "I don't call it a threat, (but) on the other hand it could be perceived as such."
The state provided about 11 percent of the university's operating budget during the last fiscal year, and with no state budget set for the current year, the university doesn't yet know how much money it will get.
The use of the private emails to discuss such issues as the plan to open a new medical school at the Urbana-Champaign campus violated university policy.
Montgomery said he isn't certain yet how he'll vote on the bonus after weighing "a legitimate concern" that Wise might not deserve the bonus, given the emails against the potential legal cost of deciding to reject the terms of her resignation.
"What's more important, the dollars or the principle? And so those are the things I'll wrestle (with)," he said.
Wise did not return a call seeking comment.
She announced her resignation last week, effective Wednesday, citing unspecified "external issues." That was a day before the university disclosed she and others had used private emails to discuss key issues while avoiding public scrutiny.
The Urbana-Champaign campus also faces allegations and two lawsuits from former athletes in three sports that they had been poorly treated by coaches and staff, as well as a lawsuit and anger among some faculty over the decision to rescind a job once offered to a professor, Steven Salaita.
Wise's contract calls for a $500,000 bonus after she worked four years, or a prorated amount, provided the trustees approve.
Wise has been on the job four years and had worked out an agreement to receive $400,000 — $100,000 for each year worked, university spokesman Tom Hardy has said.
Former trustees Chairman Chris Kennedy was particularly upset over Wise's use of private emails. He did not return calls from The Associated Press but told the Chicago Tribune that Wise shouldn't get the bonus.
"My belief is that those emails will reveal behavior that should be investigated," he said.
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This story has been corrected to show that Deputy Gov. Trey Childress wrote the letter rather than Gov. Bruce Rauner.
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