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News :: Education |
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Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
Current rating: 0 |
by bg
Email: bg (nospam) somewhere.net (unverified!) |
06 Feb 2004
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University of Illinois Chancellor Nancy Cantor has announced her intention to leave UIUC to become Chancellor at Syracuse. |
University of Illinois Chancellor Nancy Cantor has announced her intention to leave UIUC to become Chancellor at Syracuse. One has to wonder how much the Chief Illiniwek issue has played into this decision. Supporters of the mascot have been relentless in their attacks on Cantor, recently posting billboards urging that she be 'dumped.' I fear this is just another example of the damage done to this University by its continued resistance to retire a racist stereotype as its sports mascot.
The text of an email sent on her behalf to all UIUC faculty staff and students appears below:
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I apologize for this impersonal way of telling you, but I wanted you to know that I have decided to leave the University of Illinois in July to become Chancellor and President of Syracuse University. The trustees at Syracuse wanted to be the first to break the news, and they asked me to be in Syracuse today when their chairman made the announcement. I will return home to Urbana on Sunday.
Syracuse is giving me a wonderful opportunity to lead a great university. As a native New Yorker, I think Syracuse and I will be a good fit. Still, it was very difficult to make the decision to leave Illinois.
My three years with you have gone too quickly. I feel gratified by the progress we have made together in continuing to move forward in imaginative and successful ways, even in the face of difficult economic times. I am confident that Illinois will continue to lead the nation in many aspects of science, technology, and engineering, and I am delighted with the opportunities we have had to enhance our programs in the arts, the social sciences, and the humanities. I have high hopes for our Cross Campus initiatives, our strong commitments to community engagement, and the plans to preserve and expand our wonderful library.
As you might guess, I am deeply thankful for the efforts that so many of you have made to make this campus even more diverse and more in touch with the needs of its many constituencies. It has been an honor and a pleasure to know and work with you.
In the months to come, I promise to do everything I can to help the university continue in its success and to ease the transition for my successor.
Cordially,
Nancy |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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The Sad, Steady Decline of the UI as a Great Institution |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 4
06 Feb 2004
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Endless budget cuts, crypto-racist segments of the student population and alumni along with the Curse of the Chief that plagues the performance of the athletic teams, a non-competitive health care package for graduate employees, crumbling buildings, except where corporate donors endow and channel learning toward capitalist concerns.. add it all up with the lack of leadership from a political hack Board of Trustees that sits on its hands as it does the bidding of a governor that presides over a corrupt government infrastructure...it's amazing that the great faculty and bright minds of its students still stay here in enough numbers to keep us barely holding on. Nobel Prizes are great, but they are more symbolic of the UI's past, than they are of the future, unless enough resources are pumped into the system to save it. |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by townie
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 1
06 Feb 2004
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UIUC is nothing but a pure money-grubbing, profit-motivated business now.
Run for profit, and heavily supported and influenced by good ol' boy money. It’s all about the money. And how to make as much as possible. From tuition, to rent, to the necessities of life, for a captive audience.
When I moved here in the mid-nineties for the purpose of attending, UIUC was nationally ranked as one of the best values in a college degree, and second only to MIT in engineering. Now it's being priced out of the range of most students, and being groomed and molded to provide an elitist and exclusive "club" for yuppie youth of privilege. It's becoming the "country club" of state universities, where even mention of our racist mascot is swept under the rug, or "out shouted" by those nauseating billboards flaunted all over town.
Also noticing lots of high-rise, “modern” condo apartments popping-up on every block, priced to appeal to… who would you say, exactly? We’ve also seen the “Disney-fication” of campustown, including a recently enacted law to heavily fine anyone posting those unsightly handbills. Wouldn’t want to “offend” any visiting parents, lest they feel that our campus isn’t “safe and upscale”. It’s only a matter of time before we get a Gap, Starbucks, and IKEA in the heart of campustown, and vehicles older than three years are prohibited from parking anywhere in sight. SUV’s will be provided free parking, of course.
Our once proud, diverse, and progressive institution has been converted into a corporate tech R&D division, and a "safe" haven for the moneyed and privileged children of the elite.
What a loss, to the state of Illinois, and to the entire country. We were once pioneers in technology, now we're just a corporate bio-tech research firm, stocked with hand-picked, blindly compliant students that will tow the party-line, learning to become obedient corporate tools, and never questioning the "tradition for which he stands".
All Hail Chief Bozo-wek! Your racist corporate logo. Oh but now, I think they're quietly and ever-slowly shifting us over to the capital letter "I", which stands for… Incorporated. |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 3
07 Feb 2004
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> We were once pioneers in technology, now we're just a corporate bio-tech research firm, stocked with hand-picked, blindly compliant students that will tow the party-line ...
Come, now. I have lots of criticisms of UIUC, but as an NCSA employee and erstwhile grad student in GSLIS I can report that we're not exactly trailing in our technological achievements (NCSA), or lacking commitment to people over profits (GSLIS).
As for the idea that somehow the UIUC can control the attitudes of its students, I can also report that there are lots of students at UIUC who not only think critically, but engage in community activism. The GEO won a decade+ fight for union representation and won, and is currently negotiating a contract that will bring new benefits for GA's.
It's a struggle, but to forget our successes is a disservice to all the hard work and ingenuity of the people who have made them happen and sustained them. We aren't going to be stopped by budget cuts, profit-mongering administrators, or Chief boosters. |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by townie
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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Points taken, and found valid, JF. Thanks for the optimistic counter-point, it's always worthwhile.
I was wallowing in gloom at the moment of my writing, as the "pro-Chief side" really gets me down sometimes. I also believe that (pro-Chief) pressure could be the primary reason Chancellor Cantor has announced her departure.
I've noticed her being attacked from all sides, often very unfairly, so if I were her I would've finally thrown in the towel also. I don't fault her one bit for leaving - she was outnumbered and outmaneuvered, at least in the UIUC halls of power where the stakes are especially high.
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/People/futrelle/
But you might also admit that your viewpoint could be coming from primarily one direction, and might also be self-supporting, no? It seems you're deeply intertwined with, and invested in, the specific niche tech culture you hold high (in this thread). A fair observation? |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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> It seems you're deeply intertwined with, and invested in, the specific niche tech culture you hold high (in this thread). A fair observation?
Absolutely. I am extremely privileged in my north-of-green position, and I directly benefit from pork-barrel research funding that in terms of students pretty much only funds north-of-green types destined for industry.
I honestly hope we develop such great technology that everyone can afford and program their own computers, and my profession will become obsolete. |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
07 Feb 2004
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As it happens, I'm also an NCSA'er who -- by coincidence -- works on the same project as Futrelle. So let me mention that the project that's paying his bills (and mine) is not funded by the University or the state; if anything, these institutions are charging a surtax on the project's direct-from-the-NSF funding for "infrastructure support."
On the other hand, Cantor may actually be telling the truth, which is that leading a nice place like Syracuse may not be such a bad thing. And leaving behind the Chief battle can't help but be a relief. It will be very interesting to see whether a pro-Chief litmus test will be enforced on any replacement candidates.
@%< |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 3
07 Feb 2004
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natch, gehrig, but NSF $ is all federal tax $, and Illinoisans pay federal taxes.
WRT Cantor, it's a gloss to claim that her departure is going to change the UIUC from a "diverse and progressive" insitution to a "corporate R&D division". I'm not sure that the UIUC has ever been particularly diverse or progressive, and it's been a cash cow for the state in terms of private and federal $ for as long as I can remember (I've lived here since 1975). |
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Re: Chancellor to Leave UIUC |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 2
11 Feb 2004
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When the going gets tough, the Cantor's get going! She claimed to support diversity, what she meant was liberals of different colors. I wonder how many conservative history professors were hired under her regime.
Our Gain is Syracuses loss. Long Live the Chief!!!! |
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