The following is a portion of a State Journal-Register editorial published on March 12, 2010.
THE DUST-UP over University of Illinois Springfield Chancellor Richard Ringeisen’s retirement deal in the past week has been a vivid reminder of how starkly different economic times are now compared to a decade ago.
Ringeisen deserves credit for his request Wednesday that the U of I board of trustees revert to the terms of his original contract from 2001, scrapping the sweetened retirement package that would have paid Ringeisen more post-retirement salary and provided reimbursement for travel expenses.
IT'S UNFORTUNATE that public reaction to the retirement package — which would have paid Ringeisen his full current salary for 14 months, totaling about $319,000, plus reimbursement of travel between Springfield and his new home in South Carolina during his successor’s transition — became the main focus of Ringeisen’s retirement announcement. After all, it was under Ringeisen’s leadership that UIS became the institution it is today: a respected four-year university with a campus worthy of its U of I affiliation.
Download a PDF of the editorial:
20100312-Our-Opinion-New-chancellor.pdf
