More UIUC Scandals, Gollin Does Nothing

[Don Dresden]

Nepotism gone wild at UIUC!  Sounds like the University Conflict of Interest Officer has fallen down on the job:

University gave future son-in-law tailor-made, $115,000-a-year position

By Jodi S. Cohen | Tribune reporter

July 21, 2009

University of Illinois board chair Niranjan Shah used his connection with the chancellor in 2007 to get a high-paying university job for his future son-in-law, a Dutch citizen seeking work in the United States.

Campus officials went to great lengths to comply with his request, creating a position for Maarten de Jeu without conducting the usual search, securing a visa so he could work in the country and paying him a salary of $115,000 a year -- more than most other employees with the same title.

The chancellor also dipped into campus reserves to pay his salary because the position wasn't otherwise funded in the department that hired him.

"Trustee Shah urged us to explore a job for Mr. de Jeu. Accordingly I made efforts to see if there was an appropriate position within the university community for which he was well-suited," Chancellor Richard Herman wrote to the Tribune.

Shah and Herman did not agree to interviews for this story, but provided written responses to questions.

Shah said he "encouraged" the university to hire de Jeu, now 34, who graduated first in his class from the executive MBA program at Oxford University. "I thought he would be an excellent hire for U. of I. as it expanded its international research and consulting programs," Shah wrote. "I believed he was exceptionally well-qualified."

The Chicago Tribune has requested all communications including e-mail exchanges related to the hiring, but as of late Monday the university had not provided them. Campus officials had provided some documentation, including de Jeu's salary and forms related to his visa application and job search waiver.

This latest revelation comes as university trustees are under fire for their involvement in admissions decisions. Shah is expected to testify Tuesday before the state's Admissions Review Commission, impaneled by Gov. Pat Quinn in response to an ongoing investigation by the Chicago Tribune into admissions abuses.

Shah was appointed to the university board in 2003 by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and named chairman earlier this year. He is the chief executive of one of the state's most successful engineering firms and a prolific political donor who hosted a fundraiser for Blagojevich in his Oak Brook home.

Commissioners on Tuesday are likely to ask Shah how two of his family members got admitted to the university's College of Law.

The first relative was admitted in 2004. Said Shah on Monday: "I had no role in that and wasn't even aware that he had applied."

Indeed, records seem to indicate that Shah didn't directly pressure campus officials, but that they were aware that the applicant was Shah's relative.

Herman made sure the relative had a spot in the class even though a staffer wrote in a memo that the relative's academic record made him "the lowest ranking individual in the 2004 class."

A second relative was admitted in 2006, the Tribune previously reported. "I didn't know until she signed up and somebody else mentioned to me that she was at the law school," Shah said. "I never requested special treatment for anybody."

Shah said he did not think de Jeu was given special treatment either.

De Jeu moved to Illinois from London in fall 2007 to work in the university's division of Business and Industry Services, a Naperville-based unit that provides consulting and training services to businesses. BIS, a self-sustaining department funded by grants and client fees, falls under the University of Illinois Extension program.

Herman agreed to pay de Jeu's salary from a discretionary fund accessible to the chancellor and provost, even though salaries for all other BIS employees are funded from its own budget, the program's director said. "Given that BIS did not have adequate resources but considered him a well-suited and meritorious candidate, I chose to use reserves to pay his salary for one year," Herman wrote.

Herman said he expected de Jeu to generate enough business to cover his salary in subsequent years, but acknowledged Monday he did not know whether de Jeu accomplished that.

The university also paid $7,458 to cover expenses related to de Jeu's move from London to Chicago, including two plane tickets, moving expenses, temporary housing and furniture rental. University policy allows for $7,500 in moving expenses for faculty, administrators and professional staff.

Herman said he did not feel pressure to hire de Jeu, but felt "an obligation to explore avenues to ascertain whether an appropriate position within the university community could be found." ...

[Dennis Ruhl]

$115,000 for an executive MBA? Are they pretending it's an academic degree?

[ham]

University of Illinois board chair Niranjan Shah

PFFT!
HAHAHA!
PRRT!
HAHAHA!
Agh!
Puech!
God bless America...the land of opportunity...

[Herbert Spencer]

University of Illinois board chair Niranjan Shah

PFFT!
HAHAHA!
PRRT!
HAHAHA!
Agh!
Puech!
God bless America...the land of opportunity...

It does appear that ol' Niranjan isn't quite up to speed on Truth, Justice and The American Way.

But then it doesn't look like ol' Melanie is either.  What's her excuse?  Didn't they have Superman in Iowa either?  Or is it just too many years of exposure to socialist clowns like her hubby?

Do you think Mel the Conflict of Interest Officer fully disclosed that she was George Gollin's lawfully wedded spouse when she wrote him the recommendation letter for CHEA?  Sounds like a big fucking conflict of interest to me, I wonder why she didn't turn herself in?

You have to wonder why UIUC appointed George Gollin's spouse Melanie Loots to an important position like Conflict of Interest Officer.  They probably figured that since Gollin was utterly oblivious to the unlawful conduct occurring right under his own roof that his wife probably was oblivious too.  The perfect useless figurehead if they wanted to continue their orgy of rampant nepotism and conflicts of interest at UI.  

Will Gollin be writing about this in his book?  Maybe he can get his wife and a dozen or so friends to add a few more chapters and he can take credit for it, just like his dissertation.

[Dickie Billericay]

Nepotism gone wild at UIUC!  Sounds like the University Conflict of Interest Officer has fallen down on the job:

UI Conflict of Interest Officer Melanie Loots wrote letters of recommendation for her husband, UI professor George Gollin, to secure his appointment as a director of CHEA, but did not disclose that she was married to him.

Maybe it wasn't Lootsy Tootsy's idea to not use Gollum's name after all.  Maybe even a shameless troll like Gollum was embarrased to have his family name further soiled by the "Conflict of Interest Officer" Melanie Loots and her Sgt. Shultz approach ("I see nothing!") to nepotism and scandal at UI.  

[ham]

Remember Ward Churchill?
The day Gollin minds business he's not supposed to, you bet some 'concerned officer' will feel his conscience's call to investigate old George's career...you know...

[Dickie Billericay]

Remember Ward Churchill?
The day Gollin minds business he's not supposed to, you bet some 'concerned officer' will feel his conscience's call to investigate old George's career...you know...

One suspects that even at a socialist sewer like UIUC the "research misconduct" posse is hard at work, if not on Gollum then certainly on Lootsy Tootsy, and more likely both.  

Like the old Monty Python routine, how does UIUC rate it's embarassment response? a) High b) Hello c) Good Evening

At some point UIUC will decide they have been embarassed enough by the Sonny & Cher of academic maladroitness and will tell them both "good evening."

[ham]

Remember Ernst Zundel?
Yes, the so-called arch-nazi and arch-hater of today used to be the raising liberal star of yore on the political scene in Montreal...how handy did he come when big brother needed more voices and more eccentric minds to fight French secessionism...
Then one day Zundel crosses a boundary and boy oh boy, is he insane or what?
Big brother has terabytes of sworn testimonies on file -including ex family members- describing how mentally ill Zundel supposedly is...funny, eh?
The day Joe Blobb oversteps the line, you bet big brother will find a 'concerned' officer, executive, church leader, ex-lover, ex-associate...who just can't take those pangs of remorse any longer and must let the cat out of the bag about whatever fishy Joe was into yesterday...or ten years ago...

[Fort Bragg]

Remember Ernst Zundel?

The only legitimate political refugee Canada ever had. He did get sent to Germany for 5 years of jail for expressing his opinion. His German lawyer even got sent to jail for defending him.

Ernst is a bit of an ass but his only crime was to dispute the extent of the holocaust in Europe, simply interpreting history as he saw it. When did history become so sacrosanct? A lot of his stuff flies in the face of the obvious, such as the fact that a complete system was set up to detain and process Jews. To me his most interesting point is that there were in fact millions of holocaust survivors. Enough on Ernst. Nobody defended him for fear of being tarred with the same brush.

[ham]

Enough on Ernst. Nobody defended him for fear of being tarred with the same brush.

The thing that interests me is different.
I don't know Zundel, so what can I say about him?
I surely don't condone prosecuting thought or opinion crime, but I say this:
either Zundel IS this mentally unstable maniac big brother (and its many nodding witnesses on stand ) now says he has always been...or he is not...
In case he is not, why is he being persecuted? A political conspiracy?
If he truly is/was, why was he allowed to rock in big brother's lap as prominent liberal activist in Montreal?