Notre Dame may be known for its Golden Dome, but the University of Illinois is home to golden parachutes.
Consider the cases of disgraced president B. Joseph White even more disgraced chancellor Richard Herman. Both were forced to resign in the wake of the clout admissions scandal that White enabled and tolerated and Herman largely orchestrated. But resignation doesn't mean they're off the U of I taxpayer-funded payroll.
To the contrary.
Herman will serve as "special assistant to the interim president" at an annual pay rate of $395,000 until June, when he'll take a year's sabbatical for $244,000.
"He doesn't even have to call in," Chuck Goudie notes in his Daily Herald column.
Herman will continue to cash those paychecks when he returns for doing us the favor of teaching two classes. And he doesn't even have to deal with the headaches in the admissions office!
White stays on at $300,000-a-year to teach - get this - ethics and leadership.
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Who will be his guest speakers, George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich?
A better outcome would be to require White (and Herman) to take ethics and leadership courses. But they appear to be beyond rehabilitation.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
