SIU needs trustees with foresight, not whiners who get blindsided
Print up some new T-shirts: Instead of the "Carbondale bitchers," this batch needs to read "Carbondale whiners" and should come with a Magic 8-Ball.
The Carbondale trustees for a second time tried and failed to oust Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn. Their whine was that they weren't informed that state lawmakers might split up the system if they didn't end the practice of giving 64 percent of the state money to the Carbondale campus and 36 percent to Edwardsville. Enrollment at the two campuses is nearly identical, with Edwardsville expected to be larger this fall.
Then they complained about being "offended" that anyone would say they were biased against the Edwardsville half of their responsibilities.
As far as the warnings, they must have been pulling a Rip Van Winkle to be so unaware. There have been multiple attempts by state lawmakers to split up SIU over the years. That these folks were neither involved enough nor learned from history is an indictment of their service, not Dunn's.
Not to mention, the implication is that they would have voted to be fair with the funding had only they known there was a gun to their heads.
And as far as their Carbondale bias, actions speak louder than words. They used Edwardsville as a piggy bank when Carbondale needed money, then they refused to give up any of "Carbondale's" money when in fact it was taxpayers' dollars with which they were actively choosing to glut Carbondale and starve Edwardsville.
Southern Illinois University needs new leadership, but not in the president's office. Maybe it is time for the "Carbondale whiners" to be replaced by trustees who possess a basic sense of fair play and are actively engaged: not ones expecting all potential outcomes of their actions to be diagrammed for them and delivered in a pretty package to their safe zones.
This story was originally published June 25, 2018 at 5:00 PM with the headline "SIU needs trustees with foresight, not whiners who get blindsided."