Quinn. The controversy erupted when Chicago Tribune reported on May 29, 2009, that several students had been admitted to the university based upon connections or recommendations by members of the board of trustees, politicians, and members of the administration of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The controversy centered on the university's Urbana-Champaign campus, headed by Chancellor Richard Herman, who was heavily implicated in the improprieties along with the university's board of trustees. According to the article, some students were being admitted despite having sub-par qualifications. Drawing on documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the Tribune said that, "The records chronicle a shadow admissions system in which some students won spots at the state's most prestigious public university over the protests of admissions officers, while others had their rejections reversed during an unadvertised appeal process." The investigation revealed that approximately 800 students over five years landed on the so-called "clout list" and, though not all were unworthy, the admission rate of these students was eight percentage points higher than the school average. In response to the articles, White quickly launched an overhaul of the admissions process. As the university faculty-student senate prepared to vote on whether to call for White's removal, he appeared before the group and told them, "I stood behind every admissions denial, no matter who the advocates or how persistent they were." Nevertheless, the faculty-student senate passed a resolution on September 14 calling for his removal, along with that of the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the campus that was at the center of the admissions controversy. On September 23, 2009, he announced his resignation as president, effective December 31, 2009. In his resignation letter, White said he wanted to give the reconstituted Board of Trustees the freedom to choose new leadership. Saying he was sensitive to the financial sacrifices being made by faculty and staff due to difficult economic times, White timed his resignation to free the University of its obligation to pay him a $475,000 retention bonus that would have been due in February. Although the Admissions Review Commission did not call for White's removal, the commission's chairman, Judge Abner J. Mikva said that the situation had become impossible for White. In public session at his final Board of Trustees meeting on November 12, 2009, White shared a letter he received from Judge Mikva dated September 24, 2009. Judge Mikva wrote: