Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 422]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1975]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

411

the compensation to be paid by it therefor, and to employ such special legal counsel, appraisers, and others as he may deem necessary or desirable to assist him in the institution and prosecution of said proceeding. T h e student advisory vote w a s : Aye, M r . C o n l o n ; no, M r . S u m m e r s . M r . S z e g h o a s k e d t o b e r e c o r d e d as n o t v o t i n g . O n m o t i o n of M r . H a h n , t h e foregoing r e s o l u t i o n w a s a d o p t e d b y t h e following v o t e : A y e , M r . F o r s y t h , M r . H a h n , M r . H o w a r d , M r . L e n z , M r . Livingston, M r . Neal, Mrs. Rader, Mrs. Shepherd, M r . Velasquez; no, n o n e ; absent, Governor Walker.

Litigation Initiated by Gerard E. Tanner

(46) The University is named as the defendant in a proceeding filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Case No. 75L 14360) by Gerard E. Tanner, a student at the Urbana-Champaign campus. The first count of the complaint is a petition for mandamus commanding the University to confer upon the petitioner the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business. Count II is in the alternative and seeks $100,000 in damages for the alleged unlawful withholding of the Ph.D. degree. The complaint alleges that in September 1971 the petitioner enrolled in the Graduate College at the University of Illinois in the program leading to the Ph.D. degree in Business and that he took and passed examinations necessary to complete the required course work, took and passed comprehensive written and oral examinations, and completed and filed his dissertation. It is alleged that the University is arbitrarily and capriciously refusing to confer the Ph.D. degree. It is further alleged that there was an implied contract between Tanner and the University that if Tanner completed certain oral and written examinations and completed a dissertation, which it is alleged he has done, then the University would confer the Ph.D. degree upon him. It is alleged that the University has breached this contract and that the damages sustained are $100,000. The University Counsel has recommended that he be authorized to take such steps as are necessary or appropriate, including the employment of special counsel, to protect the interests of the University in the matter. I concur. T h e s t u d e n t a d v i s o r y v o t e w a s : Aye, M r . C o n l o n , M r . S u m m e r s , M r . Szegho; no, none. O n m o t i o n of M r s . S h e p h e r d , a u t h o r i t y w a s given as r e c o m m e n d e d b y t h e f o l l o w i n g v o t e : Aye, M r . F o r s y t h , M r . H a h n , M r . H o w a r d , M r . Lenz, M r . Livingston, M r . Neal, Mrs. R a d e r , M r s . Shepherd, M r . Velasquez ; no, n o n e ; absent, Governor Walker.

Litigation Initiated by John F. Albrecht

(47) A petition for writ of mandamus has been filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Case No. 75L 12839) by John F. Albrecht, an employee at the Chicago campuses with the civil service classification of Police Officer VI. The University and Donald S. Rubenstein, Director of Personnel Services, are named as defendants. Additional defendants are the University Civil Service System of Illinois and the University Civil Service Merit Board. The petition alleges that in 1972 the petitioner was the top ranking police employee at the Medical Center and was classified as Supervisor of Security and Traffic at the Medical Center. At that time it is alleged that Leroy Stephens was Supervisor of Security and Traffic at the Circle campus. It is then alleged that effective September 1, 1972, the Merit Board changed the official civil service titles of police employees to Police Officer I through V I I and that the petitioner