UI Spokesman: No Action at ‘Emergency’ Trustees Meeting

The University of Illinois' Board of Trustees has unexpectedly called a closed-door meeting on Monday at the university's Chicago campus to discuss employment and personnel matters. This meeting comes more than a week after 130 faculty members called on U of I President Michael Hogan to resign.

University spokesman Tom Hardy on Sunday night wouldn't specify what the meeting will cover, but he said no action will be taken. He said this meeting could deal with issues that will come up 90 minutes later at the Urbana campus when a trustees committee meets.

"It came up over the weekend that would be an opportunity for some of the trustees to be able to get together and talk about a few things," Hardy said. "But once you get more than three trustees in a room, you have to make sure that you comply with the open meetings act and declare it as a board meeting."

Hardy said some trustees wanted to discuss these matters before the Trustees' Audit, Budget, Finance, and Facilities Committee meets on the Urbana campus at 1 p.m. U of I President Michael Hogan will attend the meeting.

Faculty members have criticized Hogan's management style and ethics after an outside investigation found that his chief of staff, Lisa Troyer, likely wrote anonymous emails intended to encourage faculty to support a Hogan-backed enrollment initiative. She resigned but denied writing the emails.

Board of Trustees Chairman Christopher Kennedy stated last week that he supports Hogan.

Meanwhile, the Board has a regularly scheduled meeting on March 15 on the Urbana campus.