SIU Trustees say they're making progress on numerous initiatives, and hope to see more progress in the coming months.Trustees approved a budget for the current fiscal year Thursday, but one board member says she's not happy with it.
Trustee Amy Sholar, who has long advocated for a change in the way state monies are distributed within the SIU system, was the lone no vote on the budget - she says it's not good enough.
"I believe it does not provide equality among the system, and I believe that it does not promote fiscal responsibility. I know that a lot of strides have been made in the past to provide parity and to provide some fiscal responsibility. But I do not believe that we've gone far enough."
Trustees chose earlier this year to split new state money - namely the increase in higher education spending - 50/50 between the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses.
The new spending plan includes money for pay raises at SIU Edwardsville and the School of Medicine, along with a three-percent cut on the Carbondale campus.
Leadership Search Update
As the search for a new SIU President progresses, another high-level search is getting underway.
During Thursday's meeting, Board Chair Phil Gilbert announced the search for a Carbondale campus chancellor is launching. Gilbert says that hire is critical.
"Stability is critical to the SIU System, and especially on the Carbondale campus, there has not been a lot of stability in recent years."
Gilbert says the Presidential search is far enough along that he's confident the new System CEO will be in place in time to have input on the Chancellor search.
The Presidential Search Committee met earlier this week, and Gilbert says he's also pleased with the candidates he's seeing.
"There's never going to be a perfect person to take any job - whether it's being a federal judge or president of a university. But I think from the names that've been submitted and the resumes that we've seen, we've seen some people that fill most of the requirements that we're going to go with."
Gilbert hopes to have a new President selected by the end of December, and a new SIUC Chancellor sometime next spring or summer.
New Committees
Two new ad-hoc committees at SIU will look for ways to consolidate services, and expand rural health coverage in the region.
Trustee Chair Phil Gilbert created the new committees Thursday. The Shared Services Committee will explore ways the campuses can work together on things like information technology, and potentially save money.
The second committee will help the university - as a system - develop a plan to address rural healthcare across the state. Interim President Kevin Dorsey - who is a former Dean of the School of Medicine - says this gets to the mission of SIU.
"When they see quality and service, and value us, I think the university in return gets the students and the people from the area, and others, and the word spreads. So I think these things are all synergistic. We've got a lot to gain by having the region be healthy, and having less crime, less illness, less homelessness, et cetera. All of this is tied in."
Both committees are expected to report back to the Board of Trustees later this fall.
