The Phyllis Wise resignation and subsequent release of her personal emails with other high-ranking officials at the U of I have been major stories in local and state news this week. Academe Magazine has done a great job of scouring through the emails and highlighting some of the most important things included in them.
One of the most interesting things to note throughout the emails is that it appears that Wise was constantly dealing with issues from former Board of Trustees Chariman Chris Kennedy.
But Chris Kennedy later tells the News-Gazette a very different story: that it was Wise who said that she planned to reject Salaita. The Board members listened as a student trustees searched online and read his tweets aloud, and then they decided to be “supportive of her decision,” according to Kennedy’s account.
These new emails reveal a different story.
Wise writes on Dec. 14 about the CAFT draft: “What angers me about this report is that they believe that I made the decision and that BOT followed my recommendation. That is just plain not true. I have been carrying the water since [PR consultants] Edelman said that we have to stay as one voice. I don’t think I can do that any longer. I am going to talk with Scott about setting the record straight. I have just about lost my patience with all of this.”
Yikes.