Flick Fact:ISU's Charles Hovey a respected educator … or Civil War profiteer?
Question: Why is it likely Illinois State University's first president, Charles Hovey, wasn't especially fond of the Chicago Tribune?
Answer: Because the newspaper accused him of running a Civil War-era profiteering operation trafficking in enslaved people. The Tribune alleged Hovey, serving as a Union general, helped return escaped slaves to Southern owners in exchange for cotton, then sold the cotton at highly inflated prices. Whether the accusations were true or not, they produced a controversy surrounding the man whose name still appears on Hovey Hall and Hovey Avenue in Normal.
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This story was originally published July 12, 2026 at 2:26 PM.