Following Scandal, Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Quits

Richard H. Herman announced his resignation Tuesday as chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Herman was faulted by many on campus -- and by a special state review -- for enabling and participating in a since-disbanded system that gave preferential admissions to politically connected applicants. While Herman said that he sought to minimize such activity and to advance the university's political interests, a reconstituted board was conducting a review of whether he should stay on. By leaving now, Herman will forfeit a $300,000 bonus he would have received at the end of his contract. Herman will, in the short term, advise the university on math and science education issues and will later return to the faculty. An e-mail circulated on the campus said that Stanley O. Ikenberry, who was appointed this month to replace B. Joseph White as president of the University of Illinois system, and Interim Provost Robert Easter will lead the Urbana-Champaign campus temporarily (an interim chancellor will not be hired).