U of I trustee pressed for future in-law's hiring

The commission examining admissions at the University of Illinois is scheduled to hear from two of the school's trustees Tuesday, one of whom now acknowledges he used his position to help find his future son-in-law a campus job.

It was reported Tuesday that board of trustees chairman Niranjan Shah in 2007 pushed the university to hire Maarten de Jeu. Shah and fellow trustee David Dorris are expected to appear before the Illinois Admissions Review Commission Tuesday in Chicago.

University Chancellor Richard Herman said he created a $115,000 job for de Jeu in the university's division of Business and Industry Services in Naperville.

The university also helped de Jeu, who is a Dutch citizen, get a visa, and paid almost $7,500 to move him from London to Illinois.

De Jeu graduated first in his class from Oxford University's executive MBA program.He left the university for a private-sector job in August 2008, after 10 months.

Shah said he "encouraged" the university to hire de Jeu, who married Shah's daughter in February 2008.

Herman said Shah urged him to find de Jeu a job.

"I made efforts to see if there was an appropriate position within the university community for which he was well-suited," Herman told the Tribune.

Shah already faces scrutiny for the admission of two relatives to the university's law school. He has said he didn't push for either to be admitted. Shah also appears frequently in university records that track well-connected admissions applicants.

The commission, formed by Gov. Pat Quinn, is examining those records, known as the Category I list, and how some underqualified applicants on the list gained admission to the university's flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign.

In addition to Shah and Dorris, the commission also is scheduled to hear Tuesday from state Rep. Mike Boland. The East Moline Democrat and chairman of the legislature's Higher Education Committee has called for trustees involved in the admissions problems to resign.