Zack Quaintance
Daily Egyptian
A task force of 30 people from around campus reported to the chancellor with more than 50 pages of problems at SIUC.
Chancellor Walter Wendler selected the group in the fall. It has been
dubbed the Agility and Efficiency Task Force. He was advised in his
decision by deans, vice-chancellors and other close associates, Wendler
said. He tried to make sure the task force has a balance of professors,
deans, directors and civil servants who are familiar and unfamiliar
with university policy.
"With the insiders, they know the depths of the process," Wendler said. "The outsiders tend to be more irreverent of this."
By assembling the group in this fashion, Wendler said he was able to
get an experienced viewpoint along with fresh ideas from people who had
never been involved in certain aspects of campus life. The task force
report is another step toward reaching the goals of "Southern at 150,"
the University's broad plan to become one of the nation's top 75
research institutions by 2019, Wendler said.
"With 'Southern at 150', one of our goals was to make the University
more efficient and agile towards the needs of the students and
faculty," Wendler said.
The task force put a survey up on the University's Web site and
received 675 responses, 69 percent that came from students. Other
information gathering began in October and came from interacting with
focus groups, constituency bodies and lots of individuals.
The 52-page report was divided into three areas: academic and students'
services, business practices, and hiring and personnel practices.
Thomas Calhoun, the chairman of the sociology department, was co-chair
of the academic and students' services section. He said every member of
the group brought something different to the table.
"That's one thing the chancellor has to be lauded on," Calhoun said.
"Because he truly put together a task force that represents everything
and everyone on this campus."
Responses to the survey covered a number of areas, but the report
identifies three common themes. Students perceive policies as generally
not obeyed, people around campus want a forum to complain and
constituents believe the groups that represent them are generally
ineffective.
"What you see in there is a lot of ways we can make student's lives
easier," Calhoun said. "This is how we can remove some of the hurdles."
While specific problems tend to vary, the report suggested
consolidating programs like student health and career counseling, and
using the Internet for forms and applications whenever possible.
Wendler plans to start by putting the University's employee handbook
on-line. The document is outdated and it cheaper and easier to update
it if it were on-line, Wendler said.
"It's always cheaper and it's always current," Wendler said. "The only
problem we have is some employees don't have Internet access."
Before Tuesday afternoon's Faculty Senate meeting, Wendler sat with a
stack of the reports in front of him. He thanked those who helped put
it together before distributing the report to the faculty.
Robert Benford, a professor in sociology and president of the faculty
senate, said the chancellor and others did an excellent job putting the
report together, but the real challenge comes in taking action.
"If we can get a good proportion of those accomplished, addressed, then this would be a much better place," Benford said.
All bureaucracies have unnecessary procedures and it is great SIUC is
making a conscious effort to cut down on those, he said. He
specifically pointed out what students call the Woody Shuffle, a
process that sends new campus workers trekking back and forth from
their employer's office to Woody Hall before they are eligible to work.
He is waiting to see what the administration's next step is, Benford said.
The report's findings will be passed on to another task force, Wendler
said. The second task force will have all the co-chairs from the first
group as well as involvement from constituency groups and other people
around campus.
A report prioritizing the University's top five problems could be available in September, Wendler said.
Reporter Zack Quaintance can be reached at
zack_quaintance@dailyegyptian.com.
