By Eugene Vilensky
Former University of Louisville president John Shumaker, who left in March 2002, resigned today as president of the University of Tennessee, effective immediately. He leaves in a cloud of controversy that includes personal use of the university plane, a $300,000 no-bid contract awarded to a friend in Washington, D.C., and a claim by his ex-wife that UT’s search for president was rigged in Shumaker’s favor.
In his resignation letter to Tenn. Gov. Phil Breseden, Shumaker said, “I believe this step is in the best interests of the university. I simply cannot permit our students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees to be distracted from their important work by letting the controversies of the past several weeks continue.”
Shumaker–whose yearly compensation including bonuses came to $733,550–tried to stem the tide of allegations and wrote UT a check for $25,000 after he cut up his university credit card. Shumaker’s annual compensation, including bonuses, at U of L was $264,000. His trips on the company plane included repeated visits to Birmingham, Ala., where former U of L Provost Carol Garrison is president of University of Alabama — Birmingham.
During his divorce, which was initiated shortly after leaving U of L for UT, Shumaker’s ex-wife, Lucy Shumaker, testified that UT’s presidential search was rigged. She claimed that Shumaker was provided interview questions ahead of time, while the second finalist was not.
Shumaker testified that as president of Central Connecticut State University, the position he held prior to U of L, he accepted a “congratulatory gift” of $10,000 from the Hyundai Corporation after the company signed a $110,000 contract with CCSU.
Connecticut state officials said that the gift violated state ethics laws, but will not prosecute because the statute of limitations has expired.
Shumaker also revealed during his divorce testimony that prior to his marriage to Lucy Shumaker he had taken out a marriage license with Tong Zhou, his nanny and a former CCSU student from Beijing, in order to accelerate her visa application without any formal plans to marry.
Shumaker will receive his base salary of $365,000 as severance, in addition to any deferred compensation for the rest of the year. His total salary including bonuses placed him as the second-highest-paid public university president in the country.
