Jim Dey: Former UI chancellor on the outs at Rutgers

Aug. 19—It's time once again to dive into another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

Once more with feeling

Former University of Illinois Chancellor Nancy Cantor has done it again.

After nearly 10 years as the leader of Rutgers University's Newark campus, the higher-education itinerant has been invited to leave her post.

Rutgers President Jonathon Holloway this week put it as nicely as he could, speaking of his "admiration and gratitude" for Cantor while making it clear her time there is coming to an end.

"I am writing to inform you that, at the end of her second highly successful five-year term on June 30, 2024, her service as chancellor will conclude," Holloway said in a letter to the campus and Newark community.

He added that the university will "soon launch a nationwide search for her successor."

Holloway's announcement Wednesday prompted protests from Cantor supporters in Newark as well as the university community. One faculty member indicated he will petition the president to reverse his position.

Cantor responded to the announcement by making it clear that it is not her idea to leave.

"I had hoped to remain here to continue advancing the expansive work we've done together over the past decade to build and strengthen social infrastructure," she said, expressing hope that "our university community can continue to thrive" in her absence.

When the 71-year-old Cantor's contract ends, she will take a leave of absence and eventually fill a tenured faculty post.

Cantor came to the University of Illinois in 2001, after filling the provost's role at the University of Michigan. Her three-year tenure here was rocky, and she made no secret of her anger with and disdain for the UI when she left for a similar post at Syracuse University.

Cantor made that obvious when she publicly rooted for North Carolina against the UI in the 2005 NCAA men's basketball national championship. Her wishes were fulfilled when North Carolina won 75-70.

Cantor's tenure at Syracuse also was controversial, and she left for Rutgers two years before her contract was scheduled to expire there, according to news accounts.

Cantor's supporters praised her record as one of supporting campus diversity, citing efforts to identify "talented" students by "going far beyond GPAs and SAT scores" and establishing financial-aid programs aimed at creating "even greater diversity" in the student body.

She also was credited with establishing the Center for Politics and Race in America and the Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity.

Rutgers officials declined to explain their decision not to retain Cantor, stating it would be inappropriate to discuss personnel issues.

The Godfather?

Those who watched former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan routinely noted that his behind-the-scenes maneuvering was reminiscent of how the leaders of Chicago's Outfit operate.

But rarely has that description of Madigan's leadership style been discussed in so official a forum as this week.

Testifying in the federal court perjury trial of Tim Mapes, Madigan's longtime chief of staff, FBI Agent Brendan O'Leary said Madigan's moves were difficult to follow because he made a special effort not to leave a paper trail. He testified that that made Madigan "different from any other politician I've seen."

"No cellphone, no emails, no texts. He relied on his tight inner circle," O'Leary said.

Madigan's methods reminded the G-man of other investigations the FBI has conducted.

"Mr. Madigan ran his organization, as close as I can compare it to, almost the head of a mafia family," he said. "The ability for us to hear about what happened generally came down to the people on the inside being honest, and that is what we relied on."

Among those people "on the inside" was Mapes. But the feds have alleged Mapes suffered intentional memory lapses during his testimony before a grand jury.

Madigan is among those charged in the Commonweath Edison bribery conspiracy case, but he won't go to trial until early 2024.

Family fight

There's political nastiness brewing in the McLean/Macon county area now that a second GOP candidate has entered the race for the 88th Illinois House District.

McLean County Board member Chuck Erickson announced he'll run for the GOP nod to replace retiring state Rep. Dan Caulkins in the March 2024 primary. He will face Decatur's Regan Deering, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in 2022.

Deering, who lost badly to Democrat Nikki Budzinski, has been endorsed by Caulkins.

But Erickson also has prominent backers, including former state Sen. Bill Brady, former state Rep. Dan Brady and McLean County Sheriff Matt Lane.

The primary winner is expected to be the winner in the November general election because the district is one of the few in the state that's heavily Republican.

Democrats gerrymandered the state's 118 House districts in a way that gives them a large, permanent advantage in legislative races. They currently hold a supermajorities in the House and Senate.

News accounts this week indicated House Democrats hope to expand their current supermajority of 78-40 by as many as six new seats.

Another GOP fight

Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost is already working like a dog to win re-election next year.

That might seem odd for someone who's routinely won easy victories in the state's 12th Congressional District.

But those were in general elections. Bost has trouble on his hands because former GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, who represents the Trump wing of the GOP, is challenging Bost for the party's nomination.

Bailey lost the governor's race in a landslide to incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The primary fight may seem odd because Bost, like Bailey, is a conservative. But Bailey wants to bring his special brand of self-destructive, anti-woke politics to Washington, D.C., and Bost is in his way.

Last week, Bost organized a nine-stop campaign "victory tour" that began in his hometown of Murphysboro. He's trying to cover all the issues important to his constituents, devoting his time to topics including farmers, veterans, abortion, "faith and freedom," "slicing up the Biden agenda," and the Second Amendment.

Back on the field

Ousted Northwestern University head football coach Pat Fitzgerald is coaching again.

But it's on a high school, not a Big Ten, football field.

The veteran Big Ten player and coach will be a "parent volunteer" for Loyola Academy, a suburban Chicago school that two of his sons attend.

A third Fitzgerald son is a walk-on tight end on the Northwestern team.

Fitzgerald was dismissed as Northwestern's head coach in light of the ongoing hazing scandal involving members of the football team. He's hired legal counsel to challenge that decision but has yet to file a lawsuit.

At the same time, he's been named as a defendant in multiple lawsuits filed by former players.

Fitzgerald will assist new Loyola Academy head coach Beau Desherow, who replaced longtime head coach and former Fighting Illini linebacker John Holecek.

Holecek retired from coaching after his team won the state championship in its division in 2022. Holecek's teams also won state titles in 2015 and 2018.