by Patrice Jones and Ron Grossman
Staff Writers

Amid dissent about the mission and image of the University of Chicago, president Hugo Sonnenschein announced his resignation Thursday, saying he wanted to return to teaching.

While Sonnenschein, who came to U of C from Princeton University in 1993 with a reputation as a business-savvy academic, will remain in his post for another year, the Board of Trustees will establish a search committee to seek a new leader for the 107-year-old institution in Hyde Park.

Sonnenschein has come under criticism from some faculty, administrators, and students over a series of announced changes at the university that some say threatened to dilute the intellectual rigor of the university and upset the unique emphasis on graduate education and research.

At the same time, trustees interviewed Thursday insisted that the university will remain on the course Sonnenschein outlined and that his resignation will not detour those policies.

Asked if Sonnenschein's resignation was because the board of trustees was concerned about negative publicity about his policies, Howard Krane, outgoing chairman of the board, acknowledged that there was a certain amount of "background noise."

In the last few months, controversy had grown, on and off campus, about Sonnenschein's mission to enlarge the undergraduate division, reduce the vaunted "core curriculum" of required courses, and, most lately, to market U of C business school courses via the Internet through a company owned by a university trustee.

Recently some 70 faculty wrote the board of trustees, saying the president had lost the faculty's support; so, similarly, did a group of distinguished former faculty, including sociologist David Riesman, great-books guru Mortimer Adler and novelist Saul Bellow.

Sonnenschein's resignation comes on the eve of Alumni Weekend, when he was scheduled to address alumni about issues at the school. A group of faculty opposed to the policies had organized a roundtable discussion to precede that gathering.

Both supporters and critics of the president were quick to praise his accomplishments, most notably: a successful capital fund drive at a university that had been underfunded compared to its Ivy League counterparts; establishment of modern management techniques in the university's administration; and an extensive building program on a campus short of lab space and library facilities.

He was the 11th president of U of C succeeding Hannah Gray, who remains at the university as a professor of history. Previously, Sonnenschein was provost at Princeton University.

*For the full story of this whole matter see http://www.realuofc.org

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