The perks of being a chancellor

The University of Illinois at Chicago has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating and furnishing the chancellor's home, according to records obtained by the Chicago Flame.

In 2006, a pioneering surgeon named Olga Jonasson passed away and left UIC her 128-year old million dollar townhouse, located at 1514 West Jackson Boulevard. It was designated as the official chancellor's residence on July 24, 2008, at a Board of Trustees meeting by the then-President of the University, B. Joseph White, and the then-Board of Trustees. At that same meeting, Paula Allen-Meares' appointment as Chancellor of UIC was approved.

Many universities have official residences for Presidents and Chancellors, which is true for University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry. Donors recently donated a home to the UIUC campus for their chancellor, and previous University of Illinois system chancellors received housing allowances to make up for the lack of an official residence. But Jonasson House is the first official UIC chancellor's residence and Allen-Meares is the first to live in it and decorate it.

It is unclear from documents obtained by the Flame when the renovation of Jonasson House officially began, although it appears to have begun in earnest during the summer of 2008. The university has spent $500,424 dollars on renovating the house, including $112,411 for an interior decorator and furnishings for the house. The university signed a contract with Eva Quateman Interiors Ltd. on August 25, 2008, to provide design services.

There are three sets of records. The first contains project financials, including budgets, some itemized inventories, lists of contractors and services provided by those contractors, requests for service filed with UIC facilities, and bills on the house. In the second set, you can see invoices from expenditures. In the third, you can see receipts. It would be impossible to list every single expenditure in this article but some of the furnishings stand out.

According to an itemized listing of inventory and costs, the university purchased a $6,240 rug for the house; a $8,810 dining room table for the chancellor's residence; two coffee tables, one costing $2,219 and one costing $583, and a tea table, costing $2,730; two armchairs and six side chairs that cost $6,771; a left and right arm chaise for $9309.91; a $1,310 game table; an $8,671 sofa; another sofa, this one at $8,124; and a third sofa, costing $950; they also purchased a $4,420 lounge chair and footstool; a $1,381 orange ottoman; a $6,371 loveseat; two Queen wing chairs costing $5,075; a red chair, costing $600; an "antique corner chair" at $2,219; three lamps, totaling $1,683; and an antique chandelier for $1,199.

In addition, they spent $5,395 on window treatments, $2,968 on artwork, and $1,260 on a sound system.

The university has made several other purchases for the chancellor's home, including $4,896 spent on two desktop computers and a laptop; $379 for a printer; $2,040 for Roman window shades; $1,499 for shades, blinds and draperies; $630 for silverware and table linens; $599 on stainless plates; $576 on 9 inch plates; $486 on appetizer plates and wine glasses and a storage set; $215 for a teapot, $130 for a sugarpot, and $104 for a creampot. Smaller items include a corkscrew to open wine bottles that cost $6.61 and a set of classical music CDs for $21.76. An extensive listing is online.

Most, if not all of these purchases were made tax-free. The university is exempt from paying the Retailers' Occupation Tax, the Service Occupation Tax, and the Service Service Use Tax because it is "organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes."

It is not clear who at the university ultimately decides what items to purchase. We asked the university who decided, for instance, that it would be best to purchase the $6,240 rug, but we received no response to that particular question. It certainly seems lavish for a public university. Does the chancellor's residence need a $6,240 rug? Does it need $8,000 tables and couches? Couldn't the university have bought something cheaper?

There are other questions to be asked. Many of the purchases for the house were made online but some were made by staff members who were sent to stores to buy them in person. The Flame asked the university if that was an appropriate use of staff time and resources. The university defends having staff members go out to buy items for the house.

"It is wrong to suggest that a University employee should not, as part of their work responsibilities, go to a store to purchase items to furnish an official University facility," said Walt Knorr, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University of Illinois, in a memo to the Flame.

But on July 13, 2009, a university staff member took time out of her day to buy a corkscrew for the house to open wine bottles. Is that really the best use of staff time and service?

Further to the point, the Flame asked UIC Vice Chancellor for External Affairs Mark Rosati whether or not the cost of furnishing the house was excessive. He responded with a question of his own. "[O]ther than you, who is criticizing this project? We have heard no criticism from any quarter."

The Chicago Flame has spoken to several professors and students about the expenditures listed in this story. Most students and some faculty were unaware that the chancellor had her own official residence, and none knew any particulars about university expenditures on furnishing the house. But when the Flame shared the cost of some of these expenditures, like the $6,240 rug, one professor visibly blanched and said, "I just spent fifteen dollars on a rug."