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SIUC dodges a big bullet… for now

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* Background is here. SIUC folks are breathing a sigh of relief today…


Breaking: The SIU Board of Trustees did not pass item GG, which would’ve shifted $5.125 million in state allocations from SIU Carbondale to Edwardsville.

— Anna Spoerre (@annaspoerre) April 12, 2018


* The transfer would’ve hit Carbondale hard

The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce opposes the idea. Interim director Jennifer Olson says it could stifle the city’s efforts to grow.

The chamber sent an opposition letter to the board of trustees citing a 2011 study, that said for every dollar of state funding, seven dollars would be spent annually. Olson says a cut over $5 million dollars could damage the local economy by nearly $39 million in revenue. […]

SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said in a blog post that the university had already cut over $31 million in funding since 2014 and more than $5 million in additional cuts would be equal to 110 layoffs.

* But SIU President Randy Dunn insisted this week that the shift was appropriate

During a meeting with The Southern Illinoisan’s editorial board Tuesday, Dunn said that the operating policy for the two campuses has dictated a 60/40 percent split in appropriation distribution between SIUC and SIUE since at least as far back as 1979.

Over the years, that split has gotten skewed by virtue of state cuts and loss of certain programs, Dunn said.

According to figures provided by Dunn, the appropriation distribution for Fiscal Year 2018 was $91,287,400 (63.9 percent) to SIUC and $51,565,000 (36.1 percent) to SIUE. […]

To reflect a 60/40 percent split, the adjustment would be about $5.6 million.

* Meanwhile, speaking of SIUC

Nine months after Carlo Montemagno left a position as director of Ingenuity Lab to assume the chancellorship at SIU’s Carbondale campus, some members of the Alberta community are still picking up the pieces of what they call a failed project brought to life and then abandoned by its director. […]

Some individuals who worked closely with Montemagno said the employment of his family members, combined with poor leadership, may have contributed to the early downfall of what was intended to be a 10-year-long $100 million project to bolster innovation within Alberta’s oil-reliant economy. […]

“How could we blow this so bad when it looked so good?” a former research associate said. “How could it become so controversial, so dominated by hostility toward others? It became the thing that it was supposed to break. It became this extremely siloed, extremely closed environment that is exactly what that thing was designed to bust up in the broader context of the university.”

That does not bode well for SIUC.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 2:10 pm

Comments

  1. Two SIU schools Enter the Rauner-Dome, only one (maybe) comes out.

    Which redundancy is eliminated first: Two SIUs or Two State Fairs?

    Comment by Dee Lay Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 2:21 pm

  2. Higher education system of systems needs an overhaul. This is a place where Chris Kennedy could provide much-needed leadership for the state.

    Comment by west wing Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 2:29 pm

  3. Those bullets will keep coming until the disparity between students in Carbondale and those doing the same for far less, in Edwardsville, is eliminated.

    Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 2:58 pm

  4. Between a spending city council and failed leadership at SIUC, it is no wonder the city is not what it once was. The city has no economic since and failed leadership at SIU has driven people from attending going back almost 20 years.

    Comment by Carbondale is a economic disaster Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 3:51 pm

  5. This is why throwing more money at higher ed is useless. This governor. The next governor. This university president. The next university president. Doesnt matter

    Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 4:55 pm

  6. Probably correct move, but does send a signal there is a need to examine the division of state funds and the need for an aggressive marketing/recruiting campaign to build Cdale #s.
    he Chancellor’s reorg plan does not do it.

    Comment by Annonin' Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 5:18 pm

  7. –This is why throwing more money at higher ed is useless–

    What is? You haven’t referenced or attempted to make a point.

    Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 5:33 pm

  8. Rauner believes that high education should be starved. It’s how he “right sizes” things. In the meantime, my hometown and my region is dying because of it. I can’t help believe it’s part of the anti rural mindset from the state’s leadership.

    Comment by Saluki Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 5:40 pm

  9. ==anti rural mindset from the state’s leadership==

    But the rural folks luv Rauner’s Carhartt’s, poor grammar, and his “fiscal responsibilty”.
    They’re his 26% constituency.

    Comment by Aw Shucks Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 6:16 pm

  10. I bet those people that worked with Carlo gave him glowing reviews. The BOT hired a problem

    Comment by Dr X Thursday, Apr 12, 18 @ 7:47 pm

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