Groves asked to resign

By Katrina Kelly

The Daily Vidette, the student newspaper of Illinois State University in Normal, has for the second time called for the resignation of Board of Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves.

An editorial in Thursday’s Vidette is in response to Groves’ explanation of proposed policy changes. Members of the Regency campuses have labeled the changes as an attempt to limit the powers of the university presidents. The Regents govern NIU, ISU and Sangamon State University in Springfield.

Vidette Editor In Chief Scott Cooley said Thursday he has received no formal response from Groves or any of the Regents about the editorial. Cooley said Groves is taking credit for projects on the Regency campuses that are not of his doing.

The editorial states, “Most people at ISU would be quite surprised if Groves’ role in these (positive campus) initiatives was substantial.”

The editorial questions the Board’s support of an “inarticulate chancellor who gained his position by hanging around the BOR offices for nearly 15 years.”

Groves succeeded former NIU President William Monat as Regents Chancellor in 1986. Groves entered the BOR as the Regents’ academic affairs director in 1973.

“Groves should realize he has lost the confidence of the two major campuses in the BOR system,” the editorial states. “No chancellor can possibly be effective without the support of his major constituencies.

“It is time for Groves to unambiguously take responsibility for his recent actions and resign from the chancellorship,” the editorial states.

The editorial ran alongside Cooley’s column, which lists what he called Groves’ “contradictory statements” that shuttle the responsibility for the proposed changes from the Regents to Groves and back again.

Groves accepted invitations to visit NIU and ISU on Aug. 30 to field questions about the proposed changes. He told unfriendly contingents on both campuses the proposal stems in part from NIU and ISU’s recent attempts to establish separate governing boards.