CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago State University has been ordered by a Cook County judge to pay $4.3 million to a school official who was fired after accusing the school’s former president of misconduct.
That’s about $1 million more than a jury awarded in 2014 to attorney James Crowley because the university has delayed paying damages in a whistleblower lawsuit. The jury in 2014 found Crowley was fired for turning over former university president Wayne Watson’s employment records to a faculty member under the state’s open records law, and for exposing questionable university contracts.
Crowley said Tuesday he hopes a newly appointed university board of trustees brings the case to a close rather than spend more money contesting the case.
In a statement, Chicago State spokeswoman Sabrina Land maintained the judgment was “an unusual and high verdict in an employment case.” Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(CHICAGO) Chicago State University — still reeling from a scandal in which its president got $600,000 in severance to leave the South Side school after only nine months on the job — has only 86 total students in its freshman class this fall, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
That’s less than a tenth the size of its freshman class five years ago, when 1,058 first-year students enrolled, university figures show. And the 86 freshmen now on campus include part-time and full-time students, a university spokeswoman said.
Even with 211 students transferring in, the public university’s total enrollment has dropped to 3,578 — 2,352 of them undergrads, and 1,226 in graduate programs.
The number of students attending the school at 95th and King Drive has been dwindling for years. Two years ago, the school had 5,211 students and five years ago 6,882.
Spokeswoman Sabrina Land chalked up this year’s precipitous enrollment drop to Illinois’ budget stalemate, but said the school’s total projections fell within planned targets. She also said freshman have always been a small part of the population of the school serving non-traditional students.
“The university projected a 20% enrollment decline based on the lack of MAP grant funding and financial resources like most public universities in the state of Illinois,” she said in an email. “The university continues to focus on improving academic excellence, student experience, increasing enrollment and revenue generation. We plan to rebuild in 2017.”
Besides the CSU board recently agreeing to pay the six-figure severance sum to former president Thomas Calhoun, CSU also threatened to shut its doors last spring because of a lack of state funding. With a student body comprised of nearly all minority and older students depending on state grants to pay tuition, CSU was hit harder than other public state universities when that money didn’t come through.
Calhoun declared a state of emergency at the school and last April, announced the layoff of 300 staffers. By the time state money did arrive, it was too little, too late.
(CHICAGO) The Board of Trustees at Chicago State University named a new president Thursday and he is no stranger to the city.
Thomas J. Calhoun Jr., vice president of enrollment management at the University of North Alabama, was unanimously chosen to be the 22nd president of the university, according to a statement from CSU.
He will succeed current president Wayne D. Watson, who announced his retirement last January. Calhoun will start in January 2016, according to CSU spokesman Tom Wogan.
Calhoun was chosen as a finalist by a 22-member search committee, which included members of the university faculty, staff, administration, students, alumni and community members, according to the statement.
The Tuskegee, Ala., native visited the campus in September for multiple meetings and interviews with various members of the community and was universally well-received, according to the university.
As president, Calhoun will oversee the operations of the university’s five colleges, which serve about 4,800 students.
“I am honored to join the Chicago State University family as the next president of the university. While there are many significant challenges facing public higher education, CSU is in an excellent position to take advantage of wonderful opportunities to grow and prosper,” Calhoun said in a statement.
Calhoun previously served at associate vice president for academic affairs at UNA, and as assistant dean for student academic services at the University of Washington’s College of Engineering.
In Chicago, he served as founding principal of North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School; principal at Hales Franciscan High School; and headmaster at St. Gregory Episcopal School. He also worked in the Chicago Public Schools’ Department of Research, Evaluation and Planning for several years.
Early in his career, Calhoun was a laboratory technician in the Biology Department at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he taught experimental laboratory methods in molecular biology. He also directed a science and technology program at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
Calhoun has a bachelor’s degree from Tuskegee University in philosophy and biology; a Master of Science in biology from Clark Atlanta University; a Master of Arts in educational administration from the University of Chicago; and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Washington.
“I believe perhaps the most telling sign about the quality of Dr. Calhoun is that all nine board members unanimously agreed on his selection,” Nikki Zollar, trustee and chair of the search committee, said in a statement. “We were fortunate to have three tremendous finalists who all displayed their own strengths and I believe CSU is in a position to continue growing stronger with Dr. Calhoun leading the effort.”
