New U of I leader approves of law school reaction

CHAMPAIGN — Phyllis Wise began work this week as the new chancellor at the University of Illinois’ flagship campus and arrived in the middle of trouble for the university’s law school.

Wise told The (Champaign) News-Gazette that she approves of the handling so far of the problems in the law school. University officials say the school inflated the test scores and GPAs of its incoming students for several years and made the school look better in national rankings.

So far the man who leads the admissions office has been placed on paid leave while an investigation continues. The university has corrected scores it’s found to be wrong.

“I think the campus sets an example” for other universities, the 66-year-old Wise said.

Wise takes over the top job comes at the Urbana-Champaign campus after serving as provost at the University of Washington. She’s being paid $500,000 a year and says she plans to stay in the job beyond the five years her contract requires for her to receive a $100,000 bonus.

Wise is also a board member at Nike Inc., a position that led to some criticism at Washington. She said she’ll remain a member of the Nike board but keep that role entirely separate from her work at Illinois.

“I kept a firewall between Nike and UW, and I will continue to do so at the UI,” she said. “I will not bring it to the fore here.”

Wise takes over for interim Chancellor Robert Easter, who has been on the job since the 2009 resignation of Richard Herman.

Herman and university President B. Joseph White resigned over the Category I admissions scandal in which the university admitted politically connected applicants to school over other, better-qualified candidates.