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Two professors and the faculty union have settled a lawsuit against the state filed more than a year ago over an ethics exam the Illinois Inspector General said many university employees failed.
The Illinois Attorney General's Office confirmed both parties agreed to the settlement, which states the professors won't be disciplined for finishing the mandatory training too quickly. The settlement says Marvin Zeman and Walter Wallis, both mathematics professors, complied with state law when they took the training in 2006.
Zeman, president of the Faculty Association, said he felt vindicated by the agreement.
"The bottom line in all this is employees in the state of Illinois should be treated with respect," Zeman said.
In November 2006 the State Inspector General's Office sent letters to 255 university employees saying they had failed the online tests for finishing in less than 10 minutes. The employees were given the option of taking a second test and admitting they did not comply with state law the first time around.
Most university employees signed the noncompliance form, but Zeman and Wallis refused, saying they read the required material and the state was unjustly attacking their integrity. Both professors said they answered all 10 questions in the online test correctly.
Signing the non-compliance form would have been unethical in itself, Wallis said.
"I didn't want to lie to the state," he said.
Although the maximum penalty for failing to complete the training was termination, Zeman said he was not seriously worried about that possibility. The threat of dismissal served mostly to aggravate the accused employees, he said.
"I understand that you want to make sure that people comply with directives, particularly with the law," Zeman said. "But to use the word dismissal in a situation like this is not helpful."
Zeman said the Illinois Education Association paid the attorney fees associated with the faculty's lawsuit.
Deputy inspector general Gilbert Jimenez said he could not comment specifically on the case because he did not have a copy of the finalized settlement. But Jimenez said the rules regarding the ethics training have not changed.
"Nothing has changed with regard to the requirement that state employees who are taking the ethics training comply with the direction and carefully read and consider the material," he said.
Joe Crawford can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or jcrawford@siude.com.
