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 Trustees James D.
Montgomery and Frances G. Carroll are the only ones who haven't
offered their resignations since Quinn called for trustees to step
down in the wake of the school's admissions scandal.
Asked Wednesday about the trustees, Quinn said he was encouraged by
the news of the latest resignations.
"We're making progress," Quinn said Wednesday in Springfield. "I think
voluntary resignation is preferable, and we're going the right direction there."
Quinn says he has the authority under the Illinois Constitution to
remove them for incompetence, malfeasance or neglecting their duties
and plans to act this week "with finality," but didn't commit to
doing anything about the two trustees left.
A commission he appointed this summer, which examined the influence
of political connections on admissions at the University of
Illinois's flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign, recommended that all
the trustees resign. But it also found no fault with Montgomery, a
Chicago lawyer, and Carroll, a Chicago educator.
One trustee who resigned Tuesday said he's spoken to both and
doesn't believe they'll budge.
LeRoy attorney David Dorris says he talked to the three other
trustees who offered resignations Wednesday -- Kenneth Schmidt, Devon
Bruce and Robert Vickrey -- along with Carroll and Montgomery, hoping
they would all follow him.
All agreed, he said, except for Carroll and Montgomery.
"They think it is an admission of guilt and simply will not do it," Dorris said.
"I respect their decisions, but I think it's not in the best interests of the
university."
Neither Montgomery nor Carroll returned calls from The Associated
Press on Wednesday.
Quinn has asked for trustees to step down, following the
recommendation of the Illinois Admissions Review Commission.
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News reports and testimony before the commission have detailed the
university's use of its so-called Category I list of well-connected
applicants, and how some members of that list were admitted to the
school despite less-than-stellar qualifications.
The university has since stopped using the list and is working on
ways to remove political influence from admissions.
Trustees who resigned this week followed board chairman Niranjan
Shah and trustee Lawrence Eppley, both of whom were cited by the
commission for heavy involvement in the admissions flap, as well as
Edward McMillan. Quinn appointed McMillan this year and he does not
appear in thousands of pages of university e-mails and other
documents that fed news reports on admissions.
Dorris said the other trustees weren't as involved as Shah and
Eppley in the admissions problems. The four trustees who resigned
this week have said they'd like to be reappointed by Quinn.
"The record of some of the trustees is no guilt whatsoever," said Dorris.
[Associated Press;
By DAVID MERCER]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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