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."

Poshard outlines board's mission

With several novice members making up the Board of Trustees and leadership at both SIUC and SIU-Edwardsville in flux, board chairman Glenn Poshard Friday outlined the board's mission.

In a departure from past board practices, Poshard said it would take a more proactive role in leading the SIU system, without overstepping the boundaries of both universities' central administrations. He outlined an 11-point mission statement before members of the Daily Egyptian staff and said it would help the board in its commitment to be proactive and show strong leadership during changing times.

"We represent the public interest, and we will monitor the University's performance in every aspect of its works, and the best way for us to do that is to ask hard questions and be willing to face equally hard answers," he said.

Jake Baggott, chairman of the Administrative/Professional Staff Council, invited Poshard to attend its fall luncheon in November. Poshard said the invitation prompted him to put the board's mission on paper.

Baggott said he was very satisfied with the vision that Poshard articulated for the campus and said it was reassuring.

"It was the first time that in my career that I have heard a member of the Board of Trustees articulate its vision or its goals," Baggott said. "It, for myself and many of my colleagues, was encouraging to hear that the board has given some thought to how it views itself and its role and what impact it would like to make on the campus."

Poshard said the board is committed to making the University an agent and mediator of change. He said the universities must provide atmospheres conducive to the unfettered pursuit and exchange of knowledge by promising academic freedom. Both campuses must also balance equity and excellence when recruiting faculty, staff and students as well as promoting and embracing diversity, he said.

"We must maintain equity with respect to the recruitment, counseling and curriculum to support the needs of these potential applicants while not letting down on the excellence of our curriculum and teaching," Poshard said. "The board is very concerned about maintaining this balance."

Poshard also said the board strongly believes in funding its priorities and that despite budget cuts, it recognizes the need for reasonable pay raises for University employees.

He also said the board is committed to developing a way for employees to receive out-of-season raises based on merit and continued education. He said that while collective bargaining is largely the responsibility of the campuses, it is important that the parties involved don't come to the table with laundry lists of demands.

As the economy continues to suffer, Poshard said the board realizes the need to strengthen the universities' visibility and presence in both the state capitol and Washington D.C. and said the board will take a more active role in fundraising. He said that as competition to recruit employees and students heightens, the first victim of that competition must not be truth.

"We don't want the University to advertise falsely, to misrepresent what we can actually provide, to cut corners and engage in cutthroat competition, to allow inequities in faculty and staff compensations, to profess on set of ideals and ignore them in practice," Poshard said.

Tequia Hicks, who attends the board's monthly meetings as president of Undergraduate Student Government, said Poshard's outline of the board's mission is a good first step in recognizing its role at the University.

She said this is especially important with Chancellor Walter Wendler interviewing at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and SIU President James Walker out on medical leave.

"It does leave an extreme responsibility on the board to pick up the pieces," Hicks said. "And it gives them maybe even an opportunity to make more changes."

 

 

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