CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — State Senator Chapin Rose is spearheading a comprehensive audit of the University of Illinois’ Discovery Partners Institute based in Springfield.
The initial plan was to establish a technology hub in Chicago, but that initiative was scrapped and redirected towards quantum computing. For the last eight years, the institute has been under the leadership of U of I System President Timothy Killeen.
According to Rose, $30 million has been spent during this period with little to show for it. He is now hoping the investigation will uncover what went wrong.
“That’s insane. Like, what is going on? How do you lose $30 million?” Rose said. “In the handling of these funds, we want to know where every penny went. But this isn’t just a financial audit, it’s also a performance audit. They’re going to look at every email, every decision point, they’re going to tell us what happened, how we got here. At the end of the day, I think Tim Killeen should be removed from his duties related to DPI.”
The state audit commission unanimously approved the Mahomet Senator’s request late last month. Rose said the process will most likely take months to complete.
WCIA reached out to Killeen and his media team, but they declined to comment.
