Daily Egyptian WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015
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Don’t scratch on the eight ball
VOL. 99 ISSUE 68
No date decided to address city officials residence requirement Marissa novel | @MarissaNovelDE The Carbondale City Council removed an item regarding an ordinance to amend a code which requires its executive staff to live within city limits from last night’s meeting agenda. Mayor John Henry pulled the item after requests from the council and citizens were made, according to a press release issued Tuesday. The code requires the city manager, police chief and fire chief, among others, to live within the city’s limits in order to serve their positions. If the code were to be amended, this would no longer be required and officials would be able to reside outside of Carbondale. “This is not the relationship our employees should have with the people they work for,” City Councilwoman Jane Adams said in an email. “Ideally, all city employees would live within the city limits. But, minimally, the people directly responsible for administering the city’s business should live shoulder to shoulder with those they serve, with who pay their salaries.” A solution to amend the code was suggested by City Manager Kevin Baity because many people who are eligible to be promoted to executive positions do not live within the city, according to the email. City Manager Baity said the council has no specified future date to address the item.
C hris B rannon | @chrisbrannonDE Elder Brandon Burningham, left, and Elder Matthew Merrill, two missionaries from Salt Lake City, take a break and enjoy a game of pool in the Student Center. Their missons will last two years, and while Brandon is about eight months into his, Matthew has only been away from Salt Lake City for one month.
Interim dean fills shoes at School of Education Chase Myers | @chasemyers_DE Lyle J. White, professor and counselor education coordinator in the College of Education and Human Services, has been named interim dean for the school effective Tuesday. White will serve from six months to a year depending on when a permanent dean is hired, he said. He has worked as chair of the department of educational psychology and special education from 2002 to 2013, as well as winning various awards over his 26-year career at SIU. “As department chair, you work pretty close to the dean so every once and a while, you think to yourself, ‘If I were dean, how would I do that?’” White said. “I had those thoughts so this is a chance to see what I can do as dean.” Shortly after leaving his Navy post in Norfolk, Va., about 45 years ago, White utilized his bachelor’s degree in psychology to work as a counselor at an elementary school, he said. “Working at the tail end of mental health issues, I really wanted to find something I could do that was more preventative,” White said. He began working at SIU in 1989 as assistant professor in educational psychology and as a staff member at the Clinical Center. White will be taking over the position of Keith Wilson, who stepped down on June 30,
l yle J. W hite
to continue teaching students at the collegiate level. “I’m going back to the faculty, so that will be a nice treat for me quite frankly,” Wilson said. “It will be student centered and all that good stuff.” Wilson held the position from July 2012 to June 2015. Among the accomplishments during his tenure, he has helped increase equal gender representation among the school’s faculty, staff and Executive Council by 23
percent from 2011 to 2013, as well as move the school from 77th to 59th in graduate program rankings nationally. “I think the elephant in the room is the budget for the state of Illinois, SIU and many educational systems in Illinois,” Wilson said. “The budget situation and how to deal with that … I think will be one of his first priorities.” Despite various budget cuts the school has been forced to endure during the last two years, the College of Education and Human Services has been able to decrease unnecessary debt, sending the college in the right direction, he said. “My goal is to, at the minimum, set things up for the next person so we can identify some things that people in the college want to do to make this a good place to work,” White said. White said he wants to give the faculty a chance to participate in the future image of the college and focus on strengthening the connection between the school and the community. He also wants to bolster the college’s status in the university, he said. White has no intention of applying for a permanent position as dean of the school at this time, he said. “You never know what’s around the next bend in a person’s life,” he said. “You have to be careful in saying something that’s absolute that could change when the circumstances change.”
SIU operations to continue through fall if no budget is settled by July 1 Marissa novel | @MarissaNovelDE The university will not close, though Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed the budget for fiscal year 2016. President Randy Dunn sent an email Monday stating that all university operations will remain open if a state budget cannot be settled by July 1. “We have identified sufficient cash resources to keep us operating well into the fall semester,” Dunn said. But, Dunn said he cannot say the same for those who are employed on state-funded grants, projects or contracts. “Numerous of our colleagues have been, or yet may be, impacted by the suspension of those state-funded grant programs by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget,” he said. “It hurts me to watch the wind-down of some of those programs now, impacting people, including those served by the projects, who are just as much as part of the SIU family as any other employee.” The email follows Rauner’s Thursday veto of the budget for fiscal year 2016, which he said was unconstitutional because it is about $4 billion out of balance. “A balanced budget is not just good practice, it is a constitutional requirement...Although the General Assembly has chosen to disregard its constitutional obligation, as Governor I cannot approve a budget that violates this fundamental principle,” he said. Please see BUDGET | 2