John Edward Cribbet (February 21, 1918 – May 23, 2009) was a well-known legal scholar, dean of the University of Illinois College of Law, and chancellor of the University of Illinois.^[1][2]

Biography

Cribbet was born in Findlay, Illinois, just outside Decatur.^[1] His mother raised him after his father died from the Spanish flu.^[1] Cribbet received his undergraduate degree from Illinois Wesleyan University.^[1] There, he met his wife Betty Smith.^[1] After graduation, Cribbet joined the Army for World War II. He served as an aide-de-camp for Lt. Gen. Troy H. Middleton on the European front.^[1] His service produced a number of medals and stories, which he would later relate in his popular law lectures.^[1]

Cribbet then decided to attend the University of Illinois College of Law where he received his J.D. degree in 1947.^[1][3] He spent a few months in law practice in Bloomington, Illinois, at the law firm of Costigan, Wollrab, and Yoder before he was invited back to the University of Illinois to teach law.^[1][3] As a professor, he held visiting positions at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Texas School of Law.^[3] In 1967 he was appointed as dean of the law school, a position he held until 1979 when he was asked to serve as chancellor of the campus.^[1][4]

Cribbet was survived by his wife Betty; his two daughters, Pamela Steward and Carol Cribbet-Bell; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.^[1]

Chancellorship

Cribbet was named acting chancellor on July 1, 1979, after William P. Gerberding left the position for the presidency of the University of Washington.^[4] The University of Illinois Board of Trustees formally named Cribbet as chancellor in December of that year.^[4] At the time of Cribbet's appointment University President Stanley O. Ikenberry had positive words for the new Chancellor. He stated Chancellor Cribbet "[would] bring to the position of chancellor extensive experience as an academic leader, what [he had] found to be an extraordinary soundness of judgment, and an absolutely superb reputation in his profession."^[4] For his part, the new chancellor told the press that he would strive to "strengthen the voice" of students and faculty in campus governance.^[4]

Termination of Gary Moeller

While still in his capacity as acting chancellor, Cribbet was involved in the decision to terminate Illinois Football head coach Gary Moeller after the coach posted a disappointing 6-24-3 record in three seasons.^[5] The Illinois athletic director, Neale Stoner, made the recommendation to terminate Moeller, a recommendation which was later approved by the university's board of trustees in an 8-1 vote.^[5] Prior to the vote, Moeller met with Chancellor Cribbet and President Ikenberry and pleaded for his job. A bitter Moeller called the decision "unfair to everyone in the program."^[5] Moeller also chided the decision for not coinciding with the university's educational mission.^[5] Chancellor Cribbet and Stoner would later oversee the hiring of Mike White after a search that included future Illinois football coach John Mackovic as a candidate.^[6]

David Wilson Eligibility Case

During his chancellorship, Cribbet reluctantly oversaw another athletics dispute that would threaten Illinois' membership in the Big Ten Conference.^[7] The dispute involved the eligibility of quarterback David Wilson.^[7] The Big Ten had charged Illinois with misrepresentation, deception, lack of cooperation, and failing to comply with conference rules.^[7] It sanctioned the Illinois athletics program with a ban in postseason competition in all sports and the loss of conference revenues.^[7] Illinois football coach Mike White and Athletic Director Neale Stoner reportedly threatened to resign if the university did not defend itself against the charges.^[7] The university vigorously responded with a 34-page rebuttal denying any wrongdoing.^[7] Chancellor Cribbet attributed some of the problems to the university's large bureaucracy; operational staff made innocent, unintentional errors in petitions and materials that were not known to university officials.^[7] He would lament: "I had high hopes of being able to make some contribution to the solution to the many troubling problems [in intercollegiate athletics] surfacing in the mass media. Now I fear I shall be known, in athletic circles, only as the chancellor who was involved in the Wilson case, a fact which truly saddens me."^[7]

Selected works

• Property: Cases and Materials (with Corwin W. Johnson, Roger W. Findley, Ernest E. Smith, and John S. Dzienkowski) a seminal textbook now in its ninth edition.^[1]
• Principles of the Law of Property (with Corwin W. Johnson) a popular textbook that spawned three editions.
• Concepts in Transition: The Search for a New Definition of Property, 1986 University of Illinois Law Review 1.
• Changing Concepts in the Law of Land Use, 50 Iowa Law Review 245 (1964).
• Condominium: Home Ownership for Megalopolis?, 61 Michigan Law Review 1207 (1963).
• Conveyancing Reform, 35 N.Y.U. Law Review 1291 (1960).