SOME GOOD, SOME BAD AND SOME UGLY

There's been a lot to think about lately, and we've taken a little break.  Hopefully, our readers are having a good summer.  Our institutions, for the most part, are not. 

Herrin City government is making strides toward transparency.  Mayor Steve Fratinni says the city council will no longer meet in executive session.  All committees and council sessions will be open to the public.  Those issues that have been discussed in closed sessions, due to privacy issues, such as personnel, will be handled at the departmental level.  This might be a good model for the John A. Logan College Board of Trustees to follow.  It would get the Board out of the hiring and firing of individual faculty, administrators and staff and would shine a light on all Board activity. 

Speaking of Logan, three laid off faculty have recently been recalled for the coming Fall term: Molly Alter, in Art; Dave Evans in English and Jennifer Watkins in Math.  That leaves a handful still hanging out to dry.  Board Chair Bill Kilquist and President Ron House said they want to bring all of the remaining people back, but, that is what they have always said.  Hopefully, the General Assembly will pass a budget, the governor will sign it, the State will cut loose with some education funding and Logan's administration will keep their promise. 

In our last post, we noted that Logan Board member Glenn Poshard had resigned his new position as President of Morthland College. His stated reason was that Morthland had financial problems he had not been informed about prior to his hire.  Morthland attempted to dispute that but recent events show they are struggling financially.  The college has eliminated its athletic program.  That's problematic, considering that 90% of their students are athletes.  Their solution, for a financially strapped institution, is interesting.  They are waiving 100% of tuition and fees for all returning students, through the students' individual graduation dates.  This is being paid for through a scholarship fund totaling $320,000, according to Executive Vice President Emily Hayes. 

Over at SIU, President Randy Dunn will once again do double duty as Acting Chancellor of the Carbondale campus.  The SIU Board of Trustees have gotten deeply involved in the search, insisting on two more candidates in the finalist pool and directly interviewing the candidates.  Given the sluggish search and the state of higher education in Illinois, only two finalists are willing to take the job:  Brad Colwell, who has been serving as interim chancellor and Carlo Montemagno, of the University of Alberta.  Colwell's contract as interim chancellor expired June 30 and the Board will not make a hiring decision between Montemagno and him until their July 13 meeting.  Until then, Dunn fills in again.  No word on what happens if they fail to pick a candidate.  This is not out of the realm of possibility.  They have come full circle.

SIU Interim Provost Susan Ford retired last Friday.  She had held the position since the removal of John Nicklow from the position, in 2014.  Ford said she didn't want people to think she was retiring "because of the university ‘being in trouble.’”  One has to think the chaos regarding the chancellor search was a factor.  She's seen this movie before.  In 2015, she was one of two chancellor candidates left standing.  Oregon State Provost Sabah Randhawa then withdrew and the Board announced that they were suspending the search because their "preferred candidate" had withdrawn.  Ford continued on as interim provost for two more years, until last week.  Provost duties are now being jointly handled by associate provosts Lizette Chevalier and David Dillala. 

As we type this, in the Illinois General Assembly, the House of Representatives has apparently voted to raise taxes and sent a budget bill to the Senate.  The Governor has announced he will veto it. 

Congress's only accomplishment so far has been to abolish protections for consumers against the schemes of bankers.  The President spends his time playing with his phone and watching cable television. 

It's ugly.