The University of Illinois Board of Trustees dismissed an engineering professor who had a 50-year career at the state's flagship school Thursday. Administrators say it's the first time a tenure decision went to the board.
Louis Wozniak was charged with harassing a student, improperly obtaining and publishing grades and sending an email to students that included a sexual reference. He apologized for that email the next day, though has claimed he did nothing wrong. Wozniak was suspended without pay from his job in 2010 after the email. U of I President, Bob Easter, says the board felt Wozniak was a threat to students' rights:
"This has been a long deliberative process governed by the university statutes and the goal throughout has been to give due process to the professors .... and we've now arrived at a point where the board has made its decision."
Previous to the board's vote Thursday, a faculty review committee had found Wozniak was in error in just one area, and said his three-year suspension was penalty enough.