SIU students to see new textbook program and mental health fees in fall semester
annalise sChmidt asChmidt@dailyegyPtian Com
Beginning in fall 2025, Southern Illinois University Carbondale students will see two new initiatives designed to improve academic access and mental health services: a flatrate textbook program and a new mental health fee. Both measures were approved by the SIU Board of Trustees on April 17.
The flat-rate textbook program will provide students with access to digital textbooks on the first day of class, with the option to opt out if they prefer to purchase books independently. SIU students will be charged $26 per credit hour for all necessary course materials identified by faculty.
Penny Bordewick, president of the Undergraduate Student Government, explained the process leading to the approval of the program.
“So the textbook one, that was something that the admin had already kind of thought about a little bit here and there, mostly in the Provost
Office… They thought it over, and then it had worked its way down to our adviser,” Bordewick said.
She further elaborated that, after receiving more details, they took the proposal to the USG Senate for approval.
The flat-rate program will include digital features to support learning needs of a variety of students, Bordewick said.
“The online feature is going to be what the majority of students will be offered because it has a lot of different cool features that will actually enhance learning,” she said.
“One of them being that it will read your textbook to you, or if you would like a dyslexic font that’s going to be available as well.”
While most textbooks will be available digitally, students who need physical copies will also have the option.
Bordewick said that the more students who enroll in the program,
SIU’s 2025 Spring commencement will be held in the Banterra Center on Saturday, May 10 with ceremonies at both 9 a.m and 1 p.m.
The 9 a.m. ceremony will include the College of Agricultural, Life and Physical Sciences; College of Engineering, Computing, Technology and Math; College of Arts and Media and the School of Education. The 1 p.m. ceremony will include the College of Health and Human Sciences; College of Business and Analytics; College of Liberal Arts and the School of Medicine.
The SIU Simmons Law School commencement ceremony will be held on Friday, May 9 at 1 p.m. at Shryock Auditorium.
Tickets are not required and general seating is limited on a first-come-firstserve basis. The doors will open 90 minutes before the start of the ceremony. Graduates and guests will be directed to park in lots 18 and 56 south of the Banterra Center. Designated parking for guests with disability plates or placards will be available in Lot 18 at the Banterra Center and Lot 52 off Douglas Drive. Flowers, SIU-themed memorabilia and commencement gifts will be available for purchase inside the arena. Balloons, signs, noisemakers and other objects that will obstruct view are not permitted into the ceremony.
Editor-in-Chief
Lylee Gibbs can be reached at lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @lyleegibbsphoto
lylee gibbs @lyleegibbsPhoto
King Haynes, USG DEI chair poses in front of the student center May 2, 2025 in Carbondale Illinois. Peyton Cook | @cookmeavisual
Provided portrait of Penny Bordewick.
order stating that DEI policies must be removed from universities. He then gave states 10 days on April 3, 2025, to end DEI policies with the threat of removing funding. More than 50 universities have been targeted and some have had their funding revoked as a result.
SIU is not one of them --- for now – though at least one organization, Defending Education, has filed a complaint with the Department of Education over 33 of its scholarships and programs. Over the course of the past two months, the Daily Egyptian spoke with five students and other officials about their views on DEI.
“Every single person here needs to take a second and know their rights and know what they are entitled to here. I always encourage people like if you’re struggling, reach out to a friend... Because as soon as you have knowledge, there isn’t a single person on this planet that can take it away,” Wilkerson said.
DEI in higher education
Dan Mahony, president of SIU, is committed to keeping DEI policies in place at Southern Illinois University. “I think once you get rid of, say, all of that... They’re less likely to feel like they belong at the university, they’re less likely to graduate,” Mahony said.
SIU offers a wide variety of programs that are funded through DEI initiatives. Among them: the Student Multicultural Resource Center, the Diversity Advisory Council and Office for Access and Accommodations, and scholarships
supported,” Mahony said.
Mahony said the university will not shift course unless directed to under law. “We were following the law before President Trump was in office. Anything that’s come either the executive order, the Dear Colleague letter that came on Feb. 14, none of that changes the law. The law (is) still the law.”
A common misconception is that DEI is affirmative action.
The National Law Review defines affirmative action as “a legal policy created to address historical injustices and discrimination by providing opportunities to underrepresented groups,” where DEI “encompasses a broader framework aimed at fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is valued, equity is ensured, and everyone feels a sense of belonging.”
Scholarships are a key resource
SIU offers over $20 million to undergraduates a year in scholarships. Some are open to any student based on general criteria like grade level and academic standing. But in some cases, the scholarships are set aside for specific demographic groups, such as for women or students of color or those with disabilities.
One common specification is that most scholarships the school offers require the student to be 26 years or younger. Paula Horton, the senate chair for nontraditional students for Undergraduate Student Government needed scholarships to afford tuition. “There are scholarships that I absolutely qualify for, and there’s that little blurb ‘must be under 26’... especially the big ones, they require you to be
“This is removing the protections against people – true human beings, – and we need these protections in order to fight back when something bad happens on this campus and in the community,”
- Johnathon Crane President of Saluki Rainbow Network
such as David Eddingfield Memorial Scholarship that goes to a female junior or senior engineering student and the Support Black Undergraduate Education Endowed Scholarship.
“There is a lot of impact of getting rid of a lot of those programs and initiatives that were put in place basically to make sure all students felt
spinning out, and I started having anxiety,” Horton said.
King Haynes, the current DEI chair for USG, said SIU students are fortunate. Through social media and news sources, students have seen what has been happening with other universities. “People are getting scholarships taken away to where they’re not able to pay for school, not able to return from school,” Haynes said.
So far, no SIU students have lost access to scholarships based on Trump’s directive.
The concern with scholarships goes deeper. Olive Vowell, a student with disabilities that holds a senate chair for USG and sits on the Student Health Advisory Board, said that those with disabilities who receive social security benefits are not allowed to have more than $2,000 at a time in cash, stocks or bonds.
“So in many instances, it (is) that the financial barrier is even more significant for disabled students. So I think... keeping scholarship opportunities open is extremely important, especially to those students’ ability to access higher education,” Vowell said.
DEI protects students from hate
Another aspect of DEI is that it provides a support system. SIU’s Office for Access and Accommodations offers accommodations and students can apply for them RSOs such as the Saluki Rainbow Network and the Black Affairs Council make sure that students do not feel alone and have role models and peers that they can talk to.
Johnathon Crane, the president of the Saluki Rainbow Network, said that they face funding challenges for the RSO. Despite the lack of funding, many LGBTQIA+ communities have worked together to support each other.
“We’ve always figured out ways to do things that includes our members, whether, you know, we band together to make sure someone can keep going to school... help them get some food, maybe pay off a couple bills, make sure that they can be here next semester, finish off that degree,” Crane said.
Their biggest concern outside of scholarships is removing this protection that prevents hate.
something that the club expects at events.
“Our last drag show this semester... people were calling to cut off my board members’ heads. And this is very normal for us as a group, we deal with this every year,” Crane said.
“When I say the whole, you know, our death threats and stuff like that, people have no idea, but it’s when we start calling out for help, when we’re desperately saying there is something wrong, someone has been hurt, and
“We
college age,” she said.
Horton recently received a scholarship from SIU Women’s Club. Before she received the scholarship, she was feeling hopeless. She wasn’t going to be able to get any money back on her bursar. “I’m not going to have any money to buy books. I’m not going to be able to... and I started
“Removing protections allows people to fall in gaps, and also allows people who were never truly going to fight with us if something happened on campus, to just let it happen,” Crane stated.
Crane has been in the Saluki Rainbow Network for four years. They mention that it is common to receive threats from others and it is
would say, like, on a personal level, it seems like we’re all struggling. It seems like everybody is sad or mad or concerningly happy with the state of things,” said Wilkerson, the USG senate chair for students with disabilities.
Different communities across campus have found support in each other; however, students with disabilities do not have an official RSO. They have disability support services, but not much more.
“It’s a large community of
were following the law before President Trump was in office. Anything that’s come either the executive order, the Dear Colleague letter that came on Feb. 14, none of that changes the law. The law (is) still the law.”
- Dan Mahony President of SIU
no one wants to touch us because we’re trans or we’re queer, or we’re BIPOC, or we have a mental disorder, or maybe because I’m a woman or something like that,” Crane said.
“It’s a fear that the removal of something that is, yes, you know, ingrained in just being like scholarships and stuff like that, it’s not about the money, it’s about the fact that this is removing the protections against people, true human beings, and we need these protections in order to fight back when something bad happens on this campus and in the community.”
Some universities across the country, though not SIU, have been renaming their DEI policies and making them more general in hopes of remaining in compliance with Trump’s orders.
“I understand the desire to hide those so that people will be less likely to come after them, but for me, that’s what I see it as. I don’t think that it’s something that will ultimately push us forward,” Vowell said.
The mental health of campus SIU students who spoke to the DE expressed low morale amid the current political climate.
“This semester has been awful, like, truthfully, like the fear and the anxiety surrounding the politics of the world, specifically the politics of United States, and like listening to all of the negative things that people have to say about my existence and the existence of those around me, I
people, but it’s not a very, from my perspective… it’s not a very like, connected group of people,” Wilkerson said.
One goal she has for next year is to create this support system. “I would love to have more people in my life that share similar experiences to me, and I would love to be able to share my experiences with other people,” Wilkerson said.
“I feel a lot of anxiety. I think, especially as a visibly disabled person,” Vowell said. “I think that because I do have this visible indicator, people tend to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts on that topic, with me, and I felt a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, particularly when it comes to accessibility services... Will funding be revoked? Will they change the way that it works?”
Haynes is hopeful though. He mentioned not hearing anything about SIU giving up on their DEI policies. “I actually find people backing it more than anything,” he said.
Most of the students interviewed are hopeful in SIU’s commitment to DEI.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity here. I think there is so much opportunity to be the school that does things differently,” Wilkerson said.
Design Chief Peyton Cook can be reached through email pcook@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @cookmeavisual
Weird senior says goodbye to even weirder school
Believe it or not, I kind of don’t want to graduate. Sure, the communications building kind of smells like feet and is falling apart from the inside out. And I suppose that all the long nights and frustrating assignments will be fun to say goodbye to. But I’m going to miss this place, dust and all.
But I know that you aren’t here for the fluff. You came here to pinch me on the cheek and ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And to that I say, I have no idea.
At this point, I’ve lost track of how many jobs I’ve applied for. I’ve certainly applied for more than 20, which is probably severely low-balling it. I’ve heard back from probably four or five and got an interview on only one, which was a DEI position in Michigan. Each one was their own fiasco, in which I would draft a cover letter specifically tailored to the job description. In each one, I would get better at presenting myself in a way that put my best foot forward. My website is getting more and more refined and sleek, presenting only my best work in the best way that I can.
Apparently, that was not enough. So, if you’re looking for a hot take, here you go: Without DEI initiatives, I wouldn’t have gotten any job interviews.
OK, I lied. Here’s another hot take: I probably would have had more interviews if a real human being looked at my resume instead of artificial intelligence. I have strong opinions about this that I edited out for space.
Anyhow, now that I’m done venting about the 2025 career landscape, I should probably add some more positive anecdotes of the good experiences that I have had so that I don’t lose you with my negativity.
I’ll start on the road to Washington, D.C., singing “Take me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver at the top of our lungs. We had a good time, especially at the DIY Dunkin Donuts in Woodstock, Virginia.
Meeting Bryan Woolston in D.C. and getting to essentially job-follow a professional photojournalist and see his method was a highlight of the trip. I think I learned a lot about self-care and pacing myself from him that I’ve carried with me as I continue to pursue my passion in photojournalism.
Now let’s travel back to southern Illinois to the rolling hills of Alto Pass and Cobden. If there were any moment that I could point to that changed the direction of my career, it would probably be the Weekend Workshop that I took part in during the 2024 spring semester.
It was mid April, and the weather was moderately warm for that time of spring. In the days leading up to the workshop, everything was going wrong for me. My plan to photograph a farm seemed like it wouldn’t be a possibility after my contacts suddenly stopped responding.
But the day before, I called a small store in Cobden and lucked out, being able to photograph the store over the course of a few days.
By the Sunday when the work was displayed, I had surprised myself. I’m still very proud of what I was able to accomplish, and I will always remember how it felt to document the joy of a family celebrating a birthday party in the sunset in the small rural community.
It was humanity that I had just witnessed. Documenting it in a series of 10 or so images was the hard part. And the way that it felt photographing then has really inspired my interests in photography since. That was really existential. Let’s pivot to something more light before things get out of hand. I’ve made a lot of friends here at SIU. In two years, I feel like I’ve made connections that will last a lifetime, which is really special to me. You thought I wasn’t going to name drop, but I am. Brace yourself.
There are a lot of amazing professors here at SIU that have really inspired me and fostered the success and growth that I’ve seen. Professor Julia Rendleman is a friend and mentor to me and is helping me incredibly as I pursue my career. Professor Molly Parker is also extremely helpful to me, being a support as I also write on top of my photojournalism projects.
Of course, my actual major is photography, as in the art side of things. So, I’d be remiss to forget about mentioning it as well. Professor Antonio Martinez, although I’ve only taken one class with him, has been a help to me. He doesn’t know this, but I’ve known about him for a while because I used to work with his wife at John A. Logan College.
Alison Smith has also given me a lot of feedback and contributed to my photographic growth.
By the way, I am also trying to complete a music minor. I’ll be honest about that department. I had a mostly positive experience at the School of Music, but I did not enjoy the way that applied lessons worked or the teacher-student relationship of the lessons. But I’m spoiled: I’ve only ever had two classes where I felt like I was working against a negative atmosphere to learn and grow.
I did meet some amazing professors, though, who have really inspired me. Firstly, professor Chris Walczak has been an amazing help to me to pursue real interest in composition. I was able to take part in two composition recitals that have been great learning experiences to me.
I also was able to take part in the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra with the amazing professor Cauti Rosani, who really inspired me to pursue my interest in the cello. I’ve always wanted to take part in an orchestra or ensemble and wasn’t able to — you know, being homeschooled.
On that note, I did get two other amazing opportunities that I’ll mention super quickly because I have eight seconds more of your attention.
I’m going to Peru to work on a story with Lylee Gibbs and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Plane tickets are booked: there’s no going back.
I am one of two students who won the RickertZiebold Award, a contest for graduating seniors in the School of Art and Design at SIU. This was an amazing opportunity that I’m so grateful to SIU to take part in. Anyhow, how many times have I used the word amazing? It’s starting to lose meaning. That must be really bad writing.
But it doesn’t matter. I’m graduating! So long, suckers!!!
Photo editor Enan Chediak can be reached through email at echediak@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @enanchediak
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DE editorial board, faculty, sponsor and staff sit at a table the Yolk restaurant Feb. 28, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
