User:Visviva/History of Shimer College in Chicago

In September 2006, a month after completing the move he had pushed for, President William Craig Rice left abruptly for a position with the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was replaced by interim president Ron Champagne.

Thomas Lindsay
Thomas Lindsay became president of Shimer College in January 2009. His subsequent tenure was marked by controversy over both his tactics and his long-term plans for the school. Controversy first broke out over Lindsay's hiring, outside of the standard process, of a personal acquaintance to replace a professional Director of Admissions whom he had also fired out of process. In November 2009, a meeting of the Shimer College Assembly, the internal governing body of the school, produced several resolutions demanding that Lindsay and the Board respect the Shimer College tradition of self-governance.

In January 2010, it was first made public that most of the trustees supporting Lindsay's actions also shared financial ties with Barre Seid, a Chicago industrialist and major donor to the school who had previously been anonymous. In February 2010, despite the unanimous objections of the faculty, strong opposition from the community as a whole , and protests by students , the Seid-dominated Board of Trustees approved a wholesale rewrite by Lindsay of the school's mission statement. Prior to the vote, Lindsay indicated to the faculty that anyone opposing his mission statement would be expected to leave the college. The vote passed by a secret ballot vote of 18-16.

On April 19, 2010, it was reported that the Shimer College Board of Trustees had voted to remove Lindsay from his post as president. The move came shortly after unanimous votes of no confidence by the faculty and Assembly.