text: Play Facebook 
   
   Twitter 
   
   Google Plus 
   
   Embed Wheaton College removes Dennis Hastert's name from building 0:51 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
   
   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." ||||| 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. ||||| The Illinois state legislature scrapped plans to construct a statue of Dennis Hastert earlier this month after the former U.S. House speaker asked that the project not move forward. 
   
   The Democratic speaker of the Illinois House, Michael Madigan, had put forward a bill in early May proposing that $500,000 be set aside to place a statue of Hastert in the Illinois state Capitol. But soon thereafter, he withdrew the proposal at the request of Hastert, whom the feds accused this week of lying to FBI agents and trying to hide financial transactions intended to keep prior misconduct secret. 
   
   “About a month ago, the speaker contacted this office and asked that the whole [statue] idea be deferred,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown told ABC News. “So, we honored that request.” 
   
   Brown said Hastert cited “the state’s fiscal condition” in making the case that the project not move forward. “He thought the state’s fiscal condition made it a not wise use of state funds,” he said. 
   
   Though Madigan’s office did not question Hastert’s reasoning, Brown said they had no concerns about the financial viability of the statue project. “We thought it was appropriate,” Brown said of the $500,000that would have gone to the statue’s construction. 
   
   Madigan served alongside Hastert in the Illinois legislature in 1980s. He has declined to comment on Hastert’s recent indictment. ||||| 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.
target: – 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."