William Romeo - Hannah Mathew - Dominique McCormick - Zachary Rebottini

Chancellors Surprise Resignation May Not Quell

Controversy at Illinois
The Authors Profile:
The authors of this article were Brad
Wolverton and Jack Stripling. Brad
Wolverton is a senior writer for The
Chronicle who covers issues relating to
sports. His purpose in this article was to
cover the parts regarding the issues the
university had with sports, where
athletes were suing the University of
Illinois for not handling injuries correctly
and verbally abusing athletes. Jack
Stripling covers college leadership, in
particular, presidents and governing
boards. His purpose for this article was to cover information regarding the
administration at the University of Illinois, and to help uncover the underlying cause
for Ms. Wises sudden resignation.

The Authors Claim and Reasons:

The authors of this article hold the opinion that it was incorrect and unfair for Ms. Wise
to rescind the job offer given to Mr. Steven Salaita. Though not stated directly, we can
infer that the authors do not feel as though this decision was called for. In a court
ruling, the federal court stated that the university could not deny its contractual
obligations to the scholar. It is stated in the article that the reasons for her (Ms. Wise)
resignation was because of external pressure, not the issue Mr. Salaita. It continues in
the article to state that steps were never taken to right the problem that caused so
much unrest, but rather, neglected to mend fences with faculty members in the
program.

The Audience for the Article:

Published in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The primary audience for this article is most likely students, faculty, and
administration at the university of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in which are looking
for clarification of the surprise resignation of Chancellor Wise. Some secondary
audiences would most likely be people such as concerned community members and
alumni of the university wondering what is happening at their former alum. Donors to
this Institution would also be a secondary audience, looking to see how the College is
handling this issue.
The Genre and Conventions of the Article:
This was an informative article about the chancellor's resignation and possible
reasons for it. The article about Ms. Wise had a formal style and format to it, and this
is because it is about a serious issue the school had to face. A few conventions for the
informational article genre would be quotes from different people and a numerous
amount of facts about the current situation and even the history behind it.

Other Existing Perspectives:

The authors of the article did not take an extreme stance on the matter, but they
included some sections in the article that suggested to the audience that Phyllis Wise
should not be treated so harshly. They started off the article by explaining the issue at
hand. In this part, the authors were sure to include segments in the article that
highlighted Ms. Wises wrongdoings. However, the authors mainly focused on things
like the viewpoints of Cary Nelson, an English professor at the University of Illinois. Mr.
Nelson did not feel that Ms. Wise was wrong in her actions. Wolverton and Stripling
also added an interesting section to their article called impossible jobs where they
described the difficulty of the job at hand and explained that Ms. Wises position is not
one to take lightly. Oftentimes, the person who fills the position does not stay for long
because of the stressors that come along with the job.