Wheaton College announced Sunday that Dennis Hastert's name is no longer associated with its Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy, following federal charges against the former U.S. House speaker and the school's decision to accept Hastert's resignation from the center's board. 
 
 The college announced the decision in an updated news release reacting to a federal indictment Thursday. The indictment accuses Hastert of agreeing to pay $3.5 million to a longtime acquaintance to cover up wrongdoing in his past, then lying to the FBI when asked about the suspicious cash withdrawals from several banks. 
 
 "The Wheaton College statement on the Hastert indictment has been updated to indicate that the name of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at Wheaton College has been re-designated as the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy," according to the college's statement Sunday. 
 
 The Tribune reported Friday that federal law enforcement officials said Hastert was paying an individual from his past to conceal sexual misconduct. The misconduct dates to Hastert's time as a high school wrestling coach and teacher in Yorkville, one official told the Tribune. 
 
 Hastert attended Wheaton College as an undergraduate student and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1964. 
 
 He remained an active alumnus over the years, and more than seven years ago, the college named the Hastert Center after him. 
 
 According to its website, the center promotes ideas such as free enterprise, limited government and individual responsibility through classroom teaching, research and public discussion. 
 
 The Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections includes a collection of Hastert's papers, according to the college. What might become of the collection could not immediately be addressed Sunday, a college spokeswoman wrote in an email. The papers are organized into six series — Committee/Subject Files, House Leadership/Speaker files, Correspondence, Personal/Office files, Press files, and Media — and several sub-series, according to the college. 
 
 Arraignment for Dennis Hastert, Former U.S. House Speaker, is scheduled for June 4, 2015, in a Chicago federal court. (WGN TV) Arraignment for Dennis Hastert, Former U.S. House Speaker, is scheduled for June 4, 2015, in a Chicago federal court. (WGN TV) SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 A woman from Munster, Ind., who was on campus Sunday visiting the Billy Graham Center Museum said, "I don't know if anything has been proven yet, so you have to keep that in mind. But if it is proven to be true, Wheaton College needs to protect the integrity of what it stands for." 
 
 Inside the center Friday morning, a black plaque marked an October 2012 commendation for Hastert from the college's board of trustees that said many students had benefited from the center's courses, lectures, internships and research opportunities. 
 
 On the plaque, the board thanked Hastert for donating some of his papers to the center and for helping to secure grants and gifts — noting the center had surpassed its initial $10 million goal for construction, programs and endowment. 
 
 The college issued an initial statement Thursday saying it "was saddened to learn of the allegations against" Hastert. 
 
 On Friday, the college said the center would continue to operate "in conformity with the highest ethical and academic standards of excellence and integrity." 
 
 Sunday's announcement was just one of several ripple effects for Hastert following Thursday's indictment. 
 
 The day charges were announced, Hastert resigned from the board of directors at the Chicago-based futures exchange operator CME Group, a spokesman there said. Later that day, a spokesman at the Washington lobbying firm where Hastert had been working, Dickstein Shapiro, confirmed that Hastert had resigned his position as co-leader of the firm's public policy and political law practice. 
 
 Also, a spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan said last week that a $500,000 proposal to put a statue in the state Capitol honoring Hastert was shelved, but that the decision had already been made because of budget concerns. 
 
 That spokesman, Steve Brown, would not say Thursday whether the effort is now scuttled. 
 
 Anne Halston and freelance reporter Linda Girardi contributed. ||||| May 28, 2015 
 
 Because Wheaton College is home to the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy, the College has received a number of requests for comment on today’s announcement of an indictment against former U.S. Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert. 
 
 Wheaton College was saddened to learn of the allegations against former U.S. Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert. We do not have further comment at this time. 
 
 May 29, 2015 
 
 Wheaton College has received and accepted the resignation of Wheaton alumnus and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert from the Board of Advisors of its J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy. 
 
 The Center was established to pursue goals compatible with the mission of Wheaton College. Specifically, the mission statement of the Center is “to advance the training of Wheaton College students and the greater community in the understanding of market economies, representative democracies, limited government, and the redeeming effects of the Christian worldview on the practice of business, government and politics.” 
 
 The Center will continue to serve these purposes in conformity with the highest ethical and academic standards of excellence and integrity, in conformity with our institution’s identity. 
 
 The College respects Mr. Hastert's distinguished public service record and the due process being afforded him pursuant to the charges that have been filed against him. 
 
 May 31, 2015 
 
 It is with sadness and shock that the Wheaton College community learned of the indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice of alumnus and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert, and of his resignation from the Board of Advisors of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at Wheaton College. 
 
 In light of the charges and allegations that have emerged, the College has re-designated the Center as the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at this time. 
 
 The Center will continue in its mission "to advance the training of Wheaton College students and the greater community in the understanding of market economies, representative democracies, limited government, and the redeeming effects of the Christian worldview on the practice of business, government and politics." 
 
 Wheaton College serves Jesus Christ and advances His Kingdom through excellence in liberal arts and graduate programs that educate the whole person to build the church and benefit society worldwide. The College has not been implicated in or associated with any of the allegations in this matter. 
 
 We commit ourselves to pray for all involved, including Speaker Hastert, his family, and those who may have been harmed by any inappropriate behavior, and to continue the work and mission of the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 Wheaton College in Illinois on Sunday removed the name of former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert from one of its programs after the 1964 graduate of the school was indicted on charges he lied to authorities about illicit payments he made to a man from his past. 
 
 Two days earlier, Hastert, who donated his Congressional papers to the school after he retired from government, resigned from the conservative Christian college's board of advisers. 
 
 The J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at Wheaton College was "re-designated" the Wheaton College Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy "at this time," the college said in a statement. 
 
 The school said in its statement that it would "pray for all involved, including Speaker Hastert, his family, and those who may have been harmed by any inappropriate behavior." ||||| Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in apparent hush money to a longtime acquaintance to cover-up wrongdoing in his past, then lied to the FBI when asked about suspicious cash withdrawals from several banks, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday. 
 
 The stunning indictment of the longtime Republican powerhouse alleged he gave about $1.7 million in cash beginning in 2010 to the acquaintance, identified as Individual A in the charges, to "compensate for and conceal (Hastert's) prior misconduct" against Individual A from years earlier. 
 
 Individual A was described in the charges as having lived previously in Yorkville, where Hastert worked as a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. The individual has known Hastert "most of Individual A's life," the indictment said. 
 
 While details of the relationship and Hastert's alleged wrongdoing were not provided, the indictment clearly indicated that Hastert's early career at Yorkville High School was material to the charges, Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor, told the Tribune. 
 
 "The feds don't put superfluous facts in an indictment," said Cramer, who is head of the Chicago division of the private security company Kroll. "If it's in there, it's relevant." 
 
 Cramer noted the size of the alleged payoffs seemed to indicate whatever Hastert was trying to conceal could be devastating. 
 
 "$3.5 million is a lot of money to keep a secret hidden," he said. 
 
 Hastert, 73, of Plano, was charged with one count each of structuring currency transactions to evade currency transaction reports and making a false statement to the FBI, counts that each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. He will be arraigned later at U.S. District Court in downtown Chicago. 
 
 Hastert was House speaker for eight years and has been working as a consultant and Washington lobbyist since stepping down from office in 2007. 
 
 The bombshell charges had immediate fallout for Hastert. On the same day the indictment was announced, Hastert resigned from the board of directors at the Chicago-based futures exchange operator CME Group, a spokesman said. 
 
 Later Thursday, a spokesman at the Washington lobbying firm where Hastert had been working, Dickstein Shapiro, confirmed that Hastert had resigned his position as co-leader of the firm's public policy and political law practice. 
 
 Hastert's bio was taken down from the company's website Thursday afternoon. 
 
 A woman who answered the phone Thursday at the former congressman's Yorkville consulting business, Hastert & Associates, said Hastert told her to refer questions to Dickstein Shapiro. 
 
 According to the seven-page indictment, Individual A met multiple times in 2010 with Hastert but brought up the allegations of past misconduct during at least one of the meetings. During that discussion and later meetings, Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to Individual A to conceal the wrongdoing, the indictment alleged. 
 
 From June 2010 to April 2012, Hastert made 15 withdrawals of $50,000 each from bank accounts he controlled and paid Individual A that cash about every six weeks, according to the charges. 
 
 After bank representatives questioned Hastert about the withdrawals in 2012, he began illegally structuring the cash withdrawals in increments less than $10,000 to evade bank reporting requirements, the indictment said. 
 
 The FBI began investigating the cash withdrawals in 2013. According to the indictment, agents were interested in whether Hastert was using the cash "for a criminal purpose" but were also investigating the possibility that Hastert "was the victim of a criminal extortion related to, among other matters, his prior positions in government." 
 
 When questioned by the FBI about the withdrawals last December, Hastert, who as speaker was once second in line to take over the Oval Office if the president was incapacitated, said he was trying to store cash because he didn't feel safe with the banking system, according to the charges. 
 
 "Yeah ... I kept the cash. That's what I'm doing," Hastert was quoted as saying to the agents. 
 
 Cramer said the charges against Hastert are difficult to beat in court because a paper trail documents the sudden changes he made in his withdrawal procedures after the banks initially questioned him in 2012. 
 
 "Those sudden changes in his conduct are pivotal," Cramer said. 
 
 The longest-serving Republican House speaker in history, Hastert was elected to the U.S. House in 1986 after serving three terms in the Illinois legislature. Hastert was dogged by scandal near the end of his term as speaker over the response of Republican leadership to improper advances toward underage male pages by then-Rep. Mark Foley of Florida. 
 
 In 2006, the House Ethics Committee found that Hastert and other leaders were "willfully ignorant" in responding to early warnings of the scandal but did not violate any House rules. 
 
 The Tribune previously reported that although the panel did not reprimand or otherwise sanction Hastert, it cast doubt on Hastert's public insistence that he was unaware of a complaint about inappropriate email messages Foley sent to a former page in 2005. 
 
 Controversy also followed Hastert after he left the speaker's office. A Tribune investigation in 2012 found that Hastert had conducted private business ventures through a taxpayer-financed office. 
 
 In 2013, J. David John, a suburban Chicago businessman who was involved in the business ventures with Hastert, sued Hastert in federal court, claiming he had knowledge that Hastert "was using the federally funded offices, staff, office supplies and vehicles for his personal business ventures." 
 
 According to records in the case, John said he had at least three conversations with an FBI agent about how Hastert used the office. 
 
 John, reached by phone Thursday, declined to comment for this story. 
 
 A judge twice dismissed John's suit on procedural grounds but did not rule on its merits. John is attempting to revive his suit. 
 
 Chicago Tribune's Todd Lighty and Katherine Skiba and Aurora Beacon-News' Steve Lord contributed. 
 
 jmeisner@tribpub.com 
 
 Twitter @jmetr22b
– The J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at Wheaton College has taken Hastert out of its name as the scandal surrounding the former House speaker continues to grow. Hastert, who graduated from the Illinois college in 1964, resigned from the conservative institution's board of advisers on Friday, reports NBC News. The center will continue to advance the understanding of issues, including the "redeeming effects of the Christian worldview on the practice of business, government, and politics," and Wheaton respects Hastert's "distinguished public service record and the due process being afforded him pursuant to the charges that have been filed against him," the college said in a statement. It isn't clear what will happen to the collection of papers Hastert donated to his alma mater, reports the Chicago Tribune, which notes that the scandal has had several other "ripple effects" for the former speaker. He has stepped down from his job at lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro, which he joined after leaving the House in 2008, and he has also left the board of directors at futures-exchange company CME Group. A plan to put a $500,000 statue of Hastert in the Illinois state Capitol is also on ice. A spokesman for Michael Madigan, the Democratic speaker of the state House, tells ABC News that Hastert called a month ago asking for the project to be shelved because it was a "not wise use of state funds."