The SIU Board of Trustees cancelled its meeting Feb. 28 because there weren’t enough members on the board.
The Senate rejected Gov. Pat Quinn’s three appointments to the Board, and one sitting member was not in attendance at the meeting.
Instead of the meeting, President Glenn Poshard held a press conference with Trustee Roger Herrin, who was selected to be the temporary Board Chairman after previously being stripped of that title.
He says the Governor’s Office had nothing to do with that decision, unlike the previous time.
At one point, after discussing how relations between Poshard and Herrin soured once Herrin was appointed to the Board, Poshard accused Herrin of trying to rig the election for SIU’s General Counsel. His retirement is effective today.
Herrin responded by telling Poshard to “put on his big boy pants,” and go find evidence backing that claim.
Poshard says that now the Metro East area nor the SIU-Edwardsville campus has any representation on the board, and that was a major factor in the Senate’s denial of the three appointees.
A new law was proposed by Rep. Jay Hoffman Wednesday that says SIU should have two separate boards for the Carbondale and Edwardsville campus, but both Poshard and Herrin say that isn’t a viable solution.
As for discussion on student fee increases that were tabled for last night, no word on when those will be addressed. The next scheduled meeting is in May.
Gov. Quinn’s office has asked the Senate to hold a hearing with his three candidates for the board, Sandra Cook, Melvin Terrell and Lee Milner.
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