U of I Urbana Academic Senate Delays Vote on White and Herman

The faculty-student Senate at the University of Illinois' Urbana campus voted 91 to 66 Monday to postpone for two weeks a vote on an advisory resolution calling for President Joseph White and Chancellor Richard Herman to step down --- due to the admissions scandal.

The delay means the Senate won't take up the non-binding resolution until September 14th --- four days after the U of I Board of Trustees' scheduled September 10th meeting, when trustees might discuss the issue themselves.

The postponement was sought by Joyce Tolliver, chair of the Executive Committee which approved the resolution last week. Tolliver's move to postpone the vote was rejected by a boisterous voice vote at the start of the meeting, but was accepted after a lengthy discussion in closed session.

"By the time we come back in two weeks, we're not rushed", explained Tolliver. "We don't have to hammer out some of the details and ambiguities on the floor."

Both White and Herman spoke to the Senate Monday afternoon to argue for staying on, so they can reform the admissions process.

White told the Urbana campus Academic Senate that he had no knowledge at the time that there was a "Category I" list of under qualified applicants backed by trustees, politicians and others --- he says he would have challenged it if he had known.

Herman said he had come to realize the pain he had caused to citizens, students and parents by his role in the admissions scandal, and had considered resigning. But he told the Faculty-Student that he wanted the opportunity to help build a firewall to protect the university admissions process from future political pressure.

NOTE: This story has been revised and updated.