Notwithstanding these successes, Hogan's tenure was brief and controversial. He refused to move into the official president's house in Storrs because his wife, Virginia, allegedly had a severe allergic reaction to mold and mildew there. So UConn paid $49,000 to rent and renovate a five-bedroom house near campus. He ordered a $475,000 renovation of the university’s main administrative building, where he worked, and he hosted a costly inauguration ceremony for himself, complete with fireworks. Hogan even spent $3,500 of the university's money to have a number of life-size cardboard cutouts of himself placed around campus. Faculty and state legislators complained that he behaved autocratically.