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WIU Still Reviewing Its Obligation to Former President

Tri States Public Radio | By Rich Egger
Published March 2, 2020 at 9:27 AM CST
Sherman Hall is the administration building at WIU.
Rich Egger
Sherman Hall is the administration building at WIU.

A Western Illinois University spokesperson said the administration hopes to know this week whether the institution has a remaining financial obligation to former president Jack Thomas now that he has accepted a new job.

The spokesperson said the university’s General Counsel is reviewing information from Central State University in Ohio. Central State announced on February 7, 2020 that it hired Dr. Thomas to serve as its next president.

Thomas stepped down as Western’s president at the end of June, 2019 but he still has a contract with the school. You can read it here.

The deal between WIU and Thomas calls for Thomas to spend a couple years on administrative leave while receiving his full presidential salary of $270,528 per year. After that he would be reassigned to the tenured position of Distinguished Service Professor. The title required him to teach one class per semester for a salary of at least $300,000. 

However, the agreement calls for payments to end if he makes more than $350,000 a year in a new job. 

Copyright 2021 Tri States Public Radio. To see more, visit Tri States Public Radio.

Rich Egger
Rich is the News Director at Tri States Public Radio. Rich grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago but now calls Macomb home. Rich has a B.A in Communication Studies with an Emphasis on Radio, TV, and Film from Northern Illinois University. Rich came to love radio in high school where he developed his “news nerdiness” as he calls it. Rich’s high school had a radio station called WFVH, which he worked at for a couple years. In college, Rich worked at campus station WKDI for three years, spinning tunes and serving at various times as General Manager, Music Director and Operations Manager. Before being hired as Tri States Public Radio’s news director in 1998, Rich worked professionally in news at WRMN-AM/WJKL-FM in Elgin and WJBC-AM in Bloomington. In Rich’s leisure time he loves music, books, cross-country skiing, rooting for the Cubs and Blackhawks, and baking sugar frosted chocolate bombs. His future plans include “getting some tacos.” [Copyright 2025 Tri States Public Radio]
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