What is the deal with this prof? He tried to retract his perverse reference to his students as GK's (grandkids) as in the way you would use the impersonal JK (just kidding.) BTW, who has sex with their grandkids (that was rhetorical)? I want to know more on this guy and his M.O. for an appeal. What does he hope to obtain? He should be happy considering their were no sexual assault charges filed, or were there?

However this plays out, it is important that these issues between professors and students be made aware.

I am a former student of Professor Wozniaks and I really enjoyed my time in his class. He was a very good professor and I always knew that he was joking about some of the things he said and it never bothered me that he called us GKs. He was just trying to bridge the age difference between the students and himself to help us to open up with him and ask him questions. By the time you are in college, you are an adult, and if you can't take a joke every now and then you aren't ready for college. Whoever complained is just a big baby and should probably go back to high school before moving on in life.

What an abhorrently one-sided slander piece. Jennifer Wheeler and the entire DI organization should be ashamed for portraying professor Wozniak in such a terrible light. The front page reads as if he's some creepy, perverted child molester. This couldn't be further from the truth. Woz remains as one of the greatest professors in the College of Engineering and has always shown care and compassion for his students. His sense of humor, although certainly unique and often misunderstood, is part of what makes him such a great teacher. Whereas DI readers who don't know him were probably offended by the out-of-context "sex with GKs" email, I can speak on behalf of all of his former students in saying that we thought that email was hilarious when we received it 4 months ago.

This article fails to mention the controversy in which Wozniak was denied the GE Teaching Award despite the fact that he got the most number of votes (as he usually does). It also fails to mention how Woz is the only eyewitness in the case of Goldberg's March 9, '05 alleged assault on Kevin Carmody. Carmody is suing, and the university is clearly attempting to diminish Woz's stature before the jury this coming month. Thank you, Jennifer Wheeler, for playing into their dirty politics. You should be truly ashamed.

For the record, here is the rest of that email:

"Adorable GKs - most of you are about to graduate. Just want to congratulate and to admit to you that I feel honored to have had the opportunity to contribute in a small way to getting you to this point. You are exceedingly bright young professionals with an unlimited capability bandwidth. Hopefully the economy will soon turn around and fully utilize your superior talents. I have tried to instill honesty and highest ethical behavior in all my encounters with you. Don't let that go by the wayside in your career. If you see it's wrong, expose it. If the price to pay is too high, move on to a better situation. If that is not possible, don't contribute to it. While in your career formative years, it may be wise to move on every five years. You will learn from new situations and be unlikely to get embroiled in the politics of the old."

Here is an email that was sent out to all his former students that summarizes the situation better than i can; and apparently much better than the DI can.

""I am writing to you on behalf of many of Professor Louis Wozniak's General Engineering 320(Introductory Control Systems) class from the Spring of 2010. Professor Wozniak has a passion and dedication for teaching that is clear in every single one of his lectures. Not only is he able to dictate a classroom of students who might not be entirely eager to absorb this new and technically challenging material, but he presents himself and the subject material in a way that entices the mind while at the same time providing a fun and enthusiastic environment.

We are familiar with your articles pertaining to the admissions scandal here at the University this past year and the truth of the matter is that you only had the pleasure of scraping the surface of politics on campus. Professor Wozniak is not only a tenured professor but also has a distinguished history teaching as well as his research in hydropower digital control systems and he is an alum of this University. The issue at hand is the University unjustly removing one of the most dedicated and well respected Professors in the College of Engineering. Wozniak's propensity for integrity and "higher" level teaching has recently gotten him into trouble. His style of teaching enables his students to truly master the material rather than just being able to recite it on tests blindly--a dying trait in today's educational system. I as well as many others of whom I have spoken with are not only disheartened by the recent news of Prof. Wozniak's suspension but are also outraged in the way that our University repeatedly goes against the values and morals that it stands for and suspends a Professor of the highest caliber without going through the proper litigation and disciplinary processes that it has set for its own regulation.

Briefly, this same integrity has put our Professor into the crossfire of the administration because he refuses to go against what he knows to be morally right in order to protect the University's image. Our Professor is the only eye witness to an alleged sexual assault that took place between a professor of this university and a teaching assistant(graduate student). I will not go into significant detail on this matter however it equates to the University without regulatory process suspending our Professor in order to discredit his name as the trial is soon to occur. I have enclosed an email explaining the details of his suspension as was forwarded to all his students by Professor Wozniak. In addition, the administration manipulated the results of a student voted Professor of the year and wrongfully awarded a junior Professor in order to gain more grant money. This award can only be won once per every two years and Wozniak had won 3 times in the past 6 years which obviously is the max and this past year would have been his fourth.

I can also say that I continued in control systems this semester signing up for GE 420(Digital Control Systems) on the inclination that Professor Wozniak was going to be instructing the class only to come to class the first day and standing in the front of the room was not even a Professor but a Graduate student who has NEVER taught a class before. How our University feels that this person is qualified enough to teach one of the highest level classes in the Undergraduate program here at this prestigious University truly baffles the mind but also angers me as a student who is paying a large amount of money for tuition only to find one of my most technical classes yet is not even being instructed by a Professor.

I hope this information intrigues you and motivates you to learn more about this tragedy that is occurring to a Professor who has dedicated his life to educating the students of the future. This seems to be a trend with Illinois politics and sadly within our prestigious University as well. I believe that the media must explore this issue just as it had done with the unjust firing of the Catholic Religion teacher here at the University and demand that Professor Wozniak be reinstated to full teaching duties until the proper litigation has taken place.

If you would like to speak to me or any other students I'm sure I would be able to help arrange that in a short amount of time. If you have any questions or would like to talk please reply to this email address and we will gladly get back to you.

Sincerely,

Students for Woz!""

Professor Wozniak was the best professor I had in my entire 4 years at Illinois. This is a terrible misrepresentation of who he is and what he stands for. Woz never came off as creepy and unlike most other professors on campus actually cared about his students and tried to get them to enjoy learning. It is horrible how everyone is trying to portray him. He is a great person and an amazing teacher.

Woz is a good person, but he did do some really stupid things. There has to be accountability.

I am sick of this. How can it be that so many people are offended and threatened by this 70+ year old man. What is wrong with you people? I'm sure anyone that has issued a complaint on Wozniak performed poorly in one of his classes. Stop blaming your professors for your dreadful academic performance you slacker. Wozniak always makes it known to his students that he is at times inappropriate and if anyone has a problem with it to take it up with him. And for faculty members; are you just threatened that there is a professor on campus that knows how to teach an engineering class with out boring the piss out of them? Leave the man alone.

I am extremely disappointed by this article. It is one-sided and it doesn't give the entire story. For those who are interested, this article that came out in The News-Gazette gives a clearer picture: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/university-illinois/2010-08-29/controversial-prof-favorite-among-students-removed-teaching-duti

I am a graduating senior and Professor Wozniak is one of the very few professors I have had who genuinely care about his students' learning. He treats us (his students) like his grandkids, just like other professors would treat their students like friends, and I find nothing wrong with that.

Sexual assault charges? Where do you get that? Jeez. What he said was a little strange perhaps, but sexual assault? C'mon.

The only mention of sex was a clearly joking (albeit poor taste) reference to how, when students (whom he routinely calls adorable grandkids) come to see him, he may not remember their names because he remembers the names only of grandkids with whom he has had sex.

The YouTube video, to which he merely linked, is a third party's interview with the professor in which the only scenes from the classroom are brief, silent "B roll" footage that barely shows anyone other than the professor.

In the interview itself, no student is identified by name. One student is mentioned for her role as leader of an honor society, but no portion of her University of Illinois academic record is mentioned. He merely said that he told her she probably was the valedictorian of her high school class -- something that would have been public knowledge and not any part of any U of I record to which he would have access.

Clearly, the university's rationale for this action is flimsy at best. What's really going on is that the professor is being punished for earlier definance of university rules. The interview in question is actually about yet another previous punishment, one in which he allegedly was denied a teaching award for which he had been the top vote-getter. His assertion is that administrators pressured students into giving the award to someone else.

Do a bit of an internet search and you will find that this all goes back to his refusal to submit certain grading records that might be used by administrators to overrule his grading criteria for classes he teaches.

The university's sex, video and student records assertions appear to be a red herring at best, and this story accepted them, hook, line and sinker.

As a former student of Professor Wozniak, I can tell you that he was one of my favorite professors. Woz is not a pervert, give the guy a break for trying to make a joke. Get off your politically correct high horse. Heaven forbid that the .0001% of the population who doesn't have a sense of humor might get offended....

Its nice to finally see a non-biased article from a reporter rather than the garbage emails Wozniak sends out trying to drum up support for him.

At the end of the day, Wozniak is doing nothing but making crude, sexist jokes while teaching very ineptly.

He is complaining that he is unfairly being targeted and kept from teaching, but in reality he should have been removed from teaching based on his terrible methods, techniques, and teaching ability long ago. Unfortunately, its hard to fire someone for those reasons.

Actually at the beginning of the semester all of his students were asked to write down any type of humor that might offend them and no one had an issue with JOKES about sex considering everyone here is an adult. And as to him referring to US, his students as grandkids, in no way is inappropriate and if anything shows he cares about our well-being and furthering our education. Obviously NO ONE has sex with their grandkids and it was referenced as a joke that he won't remember names even though he is probably one of the only professors who actually does learn his students names. How could he not appeal this obsurdity when the school didn't proceed with proper litigation on disciplinary processes when they unjustly removed him from teaching duties.

So however this plays out, why don't you not speak in matters that neither pertain nor you have any idea of the actual situation and you only make yourself look ignorant.

Actually at the beginning of the semester all of his students were asked to write down any type of humor that might offend them and no one had an issue with JOKES about sex considering everyone here is an adult. And as to him referring to US, his students as grandkids, in no way is inappropriate and if anything shows he cares about our well-being and furthering our education. Obviously NO ONE has sex with their grandkids and it was referenced as a joke that he won't remember names even though he is probably one of the only professors who actually does learn his students names. How could he not appeal this obsurdity when the school didn't proceed with proper litigation on disciplinary processes when they unjustly removed him from teaching duties.

So however this plays out, why don't you not speak in matters that neither pertain nor you have any idea of the actual situation and you only make yourself look ignorant.

Absolutely hogwash, it looks like the author of this poorly researched article drank the administration's kool-aid. Trust me, having been in Mr Wozniak's GE 320 Class, I am no fan of his teaching style, but he is harmless and well intentioned. On the contrary, the administrators behind this attack are pretty agenda focused and disinterested in rogue or intellectually free teachers.

Wozniak's teaching style may not be in tune with your style, but the data simply is not consistent with your view (he should have won an award based on senior votes that was suspiciously given to someone else).

By no means am I a loyalist to Wozniak, as I also was not the biggest fan of his teaching style, but using the reductionist and perhaps bitter line of logic against Wozniak is unbecoming of a student from the Illinois tradition. We should know better than to trust an administration that gave its president and provost cushy jobs after years of ethically and morally questionable behavior.

I question not only your bias, but why in the world it is acceptable for anyone, especially as harmless (but perhaps unconventional and sometimes even annoying) as Wozniak could be villified in this filth of character assassination.

Taking the administrations side on this one is a very very slippery slope, regardless of any personal feelings against the man.

Its interesting how many comments there are posting support for Woz on this article.

It might interest non-participating parties that Professor Wozniak emailed a large list of people informing them that they can comment on stories posted on this website.

Its a pretty thinly veiled request for people to log on and support him. He has been emailing students asking for support with regularity for the past several months. This is nothing new.

Don't you dare speak on behalf of "all" his former students. I myself, as well as many colleagues of my own that have had him have nothing but bad memories from this ineffective teacher who is past his prime.

I would just like to say that I am one of the students "featured" in Professor Wozniak's now infamous YouTube video and no one from the DI or the Administration has actually asked me how I feel about being taped during class. I find it offensive that both the DI and the Administration feel the need to speak up on my behalf when in reality, I totally support Woz AND his antics during class.

I will agree that some of his comments can be offensive IF taken out of context. The same can be said for FOX News--thank you John Stewart.

I don't know how many of you are actually engineers but for anyone who has had the "pleasure" of sitting through a Tam class knows how boring a lecture can be. Woz may be old but I have yet to encounter a professor that A) retains ~95% attendance all semester long for a class that's only 32 students small (amazing considering you could pass the class without attending a single lecture thanks to the online videos provided) and B) I DO know some of you who have posted above and I would like to remind you that while you bash Woz (anonymously) now while you were in class with me, you were laughing along with everyone else EVERY time he made a joke--you especially liked his "SHUT-UP" shirts.

At the risk of offending some of my peers, I would just like to say that next time you have a problem with someone and that someone is kind enough to give you MULTIPLE opportunities to speak up about any injustices that may have taken place, I suggest you take sieze the opportunity right away instead of being meek and cowardly and waiting to post here about your gripe(s).

Some of you seem to take issue with Professor Wozniak's teaching style. If every time a student had an issue with a professor's style, there would be a lot more suspensions on campus. If I were to venture a guess, I would bet that you were a straight-A student in high school and got a 35 or 36 on your ACT. That's all well and good and I'm sure you'll have a great life woking for Caterpiller in a cubicle redesigning bulldozer heads. The reason you'll have that job is simple: all through your academic career you've had teachers who were working for a paycheck. They taught you how to add and subtact then multiply and divide all so they don't get STUCK with you for another year. This is certainly one way of doing things--unfortunately it seems to be the trend here in the US--but is is really the best? I don't think so.

I have had the pleasure of running into a handful of teachers here at UIUC that take teaching to a whole new level. They actually teach. They care about their students and will bend over backwards to help a struggling student understand any concept--from the Midpoint Theorem to General Relativity and everything in between. Louis Wozniak (IESE), Tom Carty (MATH) and George Gollin (PHYS) are a few that come to mind. I challenge every other professor at this university to be half as good as these individuals are on a daily basis, and I challenge all students to keep an open mind when it comes to their own education. Because who honestly wants to sit in a cubicle all day for the next 60 years, I know I don't.

This article should be called "University Suspension Policies" as it focuses more on the statutes involved than context. This is an exponentially more complicated situation than what you may see here and although he is not free of blame, Professor Wozniak is being unfairly portrayed to the public.

Think of the background environment: 1) The UIUC College of Engineering is ULTRA-conservative and hasn't changed its teaching methods since the 60's out of fear of losing its place in the rankings.

2) The IESE Department values faculty members with theoretical rather than any practical knowledge.

3) Control systems is an entirely different subject matter from any other class in the IESE curriculum and fits in a large amount of material.

4) Many students are used to thinking good grades are proportionally to how well they can memorize and they got lost in a topic like controls.

Obviously Wozniak has alienated some students because of his teaching style. Obviously the College and the Department will not take his side because of his personality and background.

And from his perspective: -He has been screwed over by the University in the past- all the way to a District Court. -He is getting paid less after putting decades of his life into the University than some of his students make in their first jobs. -He puts in countless hours of time teaching and preparing material to engage students who have no prior interest or knowledge of the topic. -He is old and italian.

Bottom line, this situation sucks (and so did this article).

Maintain 95% attendance?

That will happen when you have daily quizzes for points.

And I'm not sure who you are trying to offend with your point about sitting in a cubicle... It doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Claiming that people who have a problem with Woz's teaching style have a problem themselves is a straight joke. I had Woz in 320 and R.S. in GE 424. R.S. went over the same material as Woz did for about the first third of his semester, and taught in a way where the students actually learned, both in practice and theory, what the material was. Woz taught how to be confused, not only about the material, but about what it was even asking.

But, I could have stopped reading after you mentioned Fox News. If you listen to that crap it speaks volumes about you already.

Could someone at least correct the name of the engineering department? IESE does not stand for Industrial Engineering and Systems Engineering. It's errors like that that take away from the credibility of the journalism in general.

I 100% agree with the other person who replied to your comment. You cannot speak on behalf of all of his former students. I, too, am a former student, and I thought his email was offensive, not hilarious. My memories of Wozniak do not leave me with the impression of the harmless funny old man that some people seem to think he is. Furthermore, if you want to accuse someone of presenting one side of the story, take a look in the mirror. Your comment regarding the Carmody case came directly from an email that Wozniak sent to current and former students (i.e., it looks like you basically copied and pasted much of your second paragraph). Using Wozniak as the source of your information certainly doesn't result in having an unbiased view of this matter.

Wow... If you got offended by that email, you must have a hard time going outside.

I would normally be bored to tears sitting through a class on control systems, but Woz somehow made the class enjoyable. He is a great teacher and cares a lot about his students. This suspension should be uplifted immediately.