Nothing
seems to fire up hate comments to the radio station’s social media accounts
like my invoking the problems at SIU in this commentary. I simply believe the
university, my alma mater, is a pit of corruption and political cronyism.
And the
Illinois Inspector General seems to agree.
The Daily
Egyptian reports that the IG has determined the former President of the SIU
system, Randy Dunn, improperly hired Carbondale’s top administrators. Dunn, who
was discovered trying to coordinate an attempt to dissolve the university
system, hired a couple of new chancellors during his tenure. He allegedly sweetened
the deal by finding jobs for the family of one chancellor….and simply botched
policy in hiring the other one.
He exited
his position with a golden parachute….getting to teach for a huge salary at his
beloved Edwardsville campus. But now the deal has apparently been nixed because
of the Inspector General finding.
Dunn was the
leader of the SIU system….but the real culprits here are the people appointed
as the SIU Board of Trustees. It is a miserable system steeped in patronage
where the sitting governor names political insiders as trustees. Ultimately,
the buck stops with them. They hire the President and Chancellors. When hiring
practices are ignored, they are responsible for not being on top of the
situation.
Meantime, SIU-Carbondale
continues its enrollment spiral. Murray State, Southeast Missouri State and the
University of Southern Indiana continue to feast on SIU’s market.
And that
won’t stop until SIU gets its act together.
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