Timothy Killeen, the new president of the University of Illinois, met with reporters on the Springfield campus last week. Flanked by the chancellors of the university’s three campuses, Killeen said they were touring the state as part of a strategic planning process that would culminate next spring in a “statement of shared vision.” He said they called the van they were riding in the “Chancellormobile” and enjoyed “intellectually rich dialog” on the road.
When asked about the fact that high school seniors are leaving Illinois in droves to attend colleges in other states, Killeen said the solution lies in improving the business climate here.
“I’ve had a conversation with Gov. (Bruce) Rauner about that very topic, about retaining our talent,” Killeen said. "And to do that, we need to find opportunities. We need to grow opportunities post-graduation.”
Rauner has also called for a 31 percent cut in state funding for higher education, but Killeen hopes to persuade lawmakers that universities are the solution — not the cause — of the state’s financial woes.
He sidestepped a question about a recent legislative report on excessive executive compensation among the state’s public universities, saying he hadn’t had a chance to read it yet, but that his office would study the issue.
“We’ll be looking at administrative costs, and appropriateness of those administrative costs, and where there are excessive costs used for things that are not central to the mission of the University of Illinois, we will act,” Killeen said.
As for his own salary — $600,000 plus potential performance bonuses — he said it was determined by the Board of Trustees and he simply signed on the dotted line.