Illinois corruption 9/5/12: $80,000 payout to two college administrators under investigation

In most workplaces when you resign under a cloud of suspicion--you get nothing.

It's a different environment at Illinois' public universities.

From the Chicago Tribune--free registration required:

Northern Illinois University paid two senior administrators nearly $80,000 when they resigned while under investigation for misconduct — one for allegedly having a university employee clean his home during work hours, the Tribune has learned.

The alleged misconduct comes amid other troubling behavior at the DeKalb-based public university. NIU police are conducting a criminal investigation into whether other employees sold scrap materials from university buildings and deposited the proceeds into an unauthorized bank account, using the money as a slush fund for holiday parties, retirement celebrations and similar uses.

And it comes a year after the Tribune revealed that an NIU administrator assigned students to paint her house as one of the projects during NIU Cares Day, a one-day event in which students volunteer at service organizations in the community.

"Our students deserve better. We have had way too many questions of lapses of ethical behavior here by university officials up and down the ladder," said NIU senior Austin Quick, speaker of the Student Association. "It is time for the university to wake up and start looking at their employees, especially ones in senior positions."

And Illinois taxpayers deserve better too.

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