The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

A&M decision about Wendler to come soon

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is closer to a decision on who will be its next president, and Chancellor Walter Wendler is among those being recommended for the position.

Leo Sayavedra, chairman of the search committee and vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs over the Texas A&M system, said that the chancellor of the university will be making a final recommendation to the Board of Regents soon, and a decision could be made at its Tuesday meeting.

Wendler was asked by the search committee to apply for the position and interviewed at the campus Nov. 22.

Sayavedra said that although he does not know if the chancellor at his university will recommend Wendler to its board, he said the search committee members did recommend him for the position.

With the possibility of Wendler leaving SIUC, speculation surrounds who would be his replacement and the fate of "Southern at 150," the plan to make the University a top 75 research institution by its 150th birthday in 2019 - a plan which Wendler helped develop and highly trumpeted during his tenure.

Wendler did not return requests for comment.

Mike Sullivan, an associate professor in mathematics and member of the Faculty Senate, said he heard rumors about Wendler leaving and sent him an e-mail in May to ask if he was applying elsewhere, in particular, at Louisiana State University. Wendler replied that he has "not interviewed for a position at LSU" and that "I would not pay too much attention to rumors."

But now that it is common knowledge that Wendler has applied to at least one university, Sullivan does not view it as a bad thing.

"It could be viewed as a good thing that we have a chancellor that someone is interested in," Sullivan said. "I can't remember a time when any other chancellor would have been interviewed."

Glenn Poshard, the chairman of the Board of Trustees, said he has followed this University since he first became a student here in 1966, and since then, he has seen plenty of administrative turn-over.

"Lots of folks come and go, and the University goes right on," Poshard said. "While I would hate to see him go, if that is his choice, we will put a good committee together, and they will do a national search, and we will find someone that constituency group thinks is a good match for this University."

Jim Allen, a history professor and the director of University Core Curriculum, said the institutional continuity of the University makes any change in leadership easier to bear.

"You expect a certain amount of coming and going, and the University will continue to work, and it will still be able to operate with or without the same chancellor in Anthony Hall," Allen said.

While many people on campus are awaiting news about whether Wendler will leave the University, Rev. Joseph Brown, the director of Black American Studies, said interviewing at other universities and changing positions is just part of the professional process.

"Administrators are always subject to moving with very little notice," Brown said. "University faculty, and especially administration, get used to that. And particularly at this University, we have had so many different changes."

 

 

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