The University of Illinois board of trustees held a special meeting by video conference Friday afternoon to discuss a quirk in the state’s pension reform law that officials are worried could trigger major brain drain across the system’s three campuses this summer.
Because of an “unintended drafting error,” thousands of university employees hired before 2005 stand to lose a significant portion of their lifetime retirement income if they don’t retire before July 1, Avijit Ghosh, senior adviser to university president Robert Easter, told the board.
Chancellor Susan Koch said UIS has about 200 employees eligible to retire. Among those opting to do so, even though they’d prefer not to, are the math department head, the chief financial officer and the campus horticulturist, she said.
“Although, of course, the scale at the Springfield campus is different, the problem is the same,” Koch said.
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on April 19, 2014.
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