2021 - 2022 School Year

[sealhall74]

Did I hear it right? He was offered an Intro to English course? If so, therein lies the problem. We could have done a whole lot better than that to avoid this issue coming to board vote.

I think they (whoever's decision it was) wanted to push things to get him to back out of the rest of the contract, so they assigned him an in-person course that they knew would fill up (English 280 is always full) rather than one that wouldn't have any/many students and they could just cancel.

I would have given him the call on some 300-400 level class and even the opportunity to come up with a new class. I dont see how number of students in the class has much weight in this matter as I took a Math class or two at WIU alongside less than a handful of students. Enjoyed it jiust as much, probably more, than if the class had 20 in it. If he wanted to preach before a throng of students, let him decide what class it should be. Just my two cents but I am sticking with it.

[Leatherneck10]

There's no doubt whatsoever that it was the *threat* of legal action that caused the BOT to cave. Western was 100 percent following the terms of the agreement by assigning JT an in-person English class. 100 percent. This payout is to avoid another front page Chronicle of Higher Education story caused by a nasty legal battle. Western would have won the court case, but Jack's team would have pulled every stop to make him look like an innocent victim. The BOT knows we can't afford more bad national press.

[Western_101]

Ahh the legacy of Jack Thomas.

Just gives a person the "warm fuzzys".

Extortion comes to mind.

How many times is the esteemed former Pres. going to victimize this institution to satisfy his greed?

[Leatherneck10]

I would have loved for Western to have publicly offered to put the 900k in a named scholarship account in the Foundation. That would have forced JT to say that he wanted the cash payout. Proving that it really isn’t about the students (like he always preached) and all about lining his pockets.

[Tere North]

I would have loved for Western to have publicly offered to put the 900k in a named scholarship account in the Foundation. That would have forced JT to say that he wanted the cash payout. Proving that it really isn’t about the students (like he always preached) and all about lining his pockets.

We actually paid for his legal fees. Only $80k of the $900k went to Thomas. The remaining $820k went to his personal injury lawyers. No way was the bill that much regarding the teaching of a class. I had to cover all his expenses from when he tried to leave, with that firm likely being responsible for the orignal agreement,

[Leatherneck10]

Not true, Tere. He had the 900K paid out to his legal firm because he believes it will not be taxable income. He believes that legal settlements are tax exempt. The legal fees will come out of the 900K, and the remainder will be paid out to JT personally by the firm. Read the full document, it even says WIU believes the 900K is taxable and the University is not responsible for not withholding employment taxes from it.

[Tere North]

Thanks for the clarification. So more Thomas trying to cheat the system.

[Leatherneck10]

Thanks for the clarification. So more Thomas trying to cheat the system.

Absolutely. He’s a total and complete disaster. Thank God he didn’t ask for a Thomas Hall. He probably would have extorted that, too.

[Leatherneck10]

Thanks for the clarification. So more Thomas trying to cheat the system.

Absolutely. He’s a total and complete disaster. Thank God he didn’t ask for a Thomas Hall. He probably would have extorted that, too, out of this BOT.

[wiu712]

From WGEM News:

WIU students excited for new school year.
https://wgem.com/2021/08/19/wiu-student ... hool-year/

WIU President shares plans for school year.
https://wgem.com/2021/08/19/wiu-preside ... hool-year/