In a unanimous decision, Trustees have approved a plan to allow SIU Carbondale to borrow up to $35 million from SIU Edwardsville.Southern Illinois University Carbondale is getting some financial help from its sister campus, as the state budget crisis nears two years. WSIU's Jennifer Fuller reports.
In a special meeting Wednesday, SIU's Board gave the go-ahead to the plan, which includes stipulations that SIUC develop a specific financial plan, that SIUE be first on the list for repayment if and when a state budget is approved, and that if state monies don't arrive, a financial emergency can be considered for SIU Carbondale in order to protect Edwardsville.
SIU President Randy Dunn says the decision is about system sustainability, rather than pitting one campus against another.
"It is one system budget. It is one system audit, it is one system financial accounting system. It is a system budget that is the purview of the board's. "
Dunn says this is a larger illustration of what's happening in the absence of a state budget. He says without this influx of cash, SIU Carbondale would have been in deficit spending within days.
SIUC Chancellor Search:
Meanwhile, it'll be a few more weeks before SIU Carbondale knows who its next chancellor will be.
SIU Trustees were scheduled to approve a new leader at a special meeting Wednesday night, but instead chose to table the matter.
Board Chair Randal Thomas says there was some confusion in the recommendation from the campus, and the trustees want to directly interview the three remaining finalists - plus two more.
"The Board directly has taken the recommendations of the search committee to the President. We've got it, and now we want to own it by interviewing."
Four finalists visited SIUC last month - Jeff Elwell, who withdrew to take another job, George Hynd, Brad Colwell, and Carl Pinkert. Thomas says they'll go back to the finalist pool for two additional candidates, though names were not immediately released.
Thomas and SIU President Randy Dunn say additional interviews will take a few more weeks, with a decision expected in June or July.
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