One trustee’s request that the university’s president put his big boy pants on and get to work was just one of the many public battles that have plagued SIU Board of Trustees during the last year.

The board was dealt a crisis Feb. 25 when Gov. Pat Quinn released trustees Mark Hinrichs, Ed Hightower and John Simmons from the board. He appointed three trustees from across the state in their place, but the swap halted the board’s Feb. 28 scheduled meeting that was replaced with a 40-minute debate between Board Chairman Pro Tempore Roger Herrin and university President Glenn Poshard as a year of issues intensified.

When Herrin joined the board in 2011, rumors swirled that claimed Quinn appointed him because of campaign contributions —more than $15,000, according to the State Board of Elections — but Herrin said he was appointed because of his merits. Herrin said he felt he and Poshard had a good relationship until he was appointed to the BOT in 2011. During the late ’90s, Herrin donated more than $6,000 to Poshard for Governor campaigns, according to the elections board.

So how did the two come to blows?

The Election

Almost one year ago, Roger Herrin was voted out as board chairman 4-2. Trustees Donna Mannering and Don Lowery voted to retain Herrin, while trustees Hightower, Simmons, Hinrichs and Marquita Wiley voted Simmons chairman. Herrin abstained from the vote.

However, Herrin was not surprised by the results, which he said had been some time in the making.

“The change was, without question, well- planned, well-orchestrated through the administration,” Herrin said. “And it became known to those of us close to the situation exactly what was coming down.”

Ed Hightower, who was elected vice-chairman alongside Simmons, said the trustees voted to change leadership because of fears that trustees were becoming too involved in everyday university operations, which Hightower said should be restricted to university-official approval.

“We hire quality individuals to run the day- to-day,” Hightower said. “When trustees begin to get involved with the day-to-day, it causes problems that we should not have to encounter. And with that, we felt that we were there and we needed to … get behind all of our administrators and allow them to run the day-to-day and that’s probably the biggest issue that we would change in the leadership.”

Herrin said he wouldn’t give up.

“I did the best I could do, but they’re not going to run me off,” he said. “You can still lose a battle and win a war.”

The Press Conference

Several days later, Poshard held a press conference to refute accusations Herrin and Lowery made after the election. However, Herrin said he would not be upset if the press conference were for other reasons, according to a March 27 WPSD Local 6 article.

“It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if this press conference he’s holding today is to announce his resignation,” he said in the article. “I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it tonight.”

During the conference, Poshard said Herrin and Lowery were attempting to control the board. Herrin used threats to advance his agenda, Poshard said.

“They’ve tried to change search procedures so people with political connections can get qualified for certain jobs,” he said in the article.

Poshard also said Herrin had been in contact with the university’s Faculty Association outside the bargaining table before the November 2011 teacher strike, which would go against the union bargaining process. Poshard said Herrin had come to him with a list of what the union wanted, and Poshard took the note before the full BOT as evidence. Poshard also said Herrin admitted the communication to him, but Herrin denied that claim.

“I never, ever, directly or indirectly, interfered in any of that, nor would I have ever,” he said.

Randy Hughes, then-Faculty Association president, said Herrin had not been involved in the negotiation.

“We didn’t speak with Herrin,” Hughes said in an April 2 article. “Herrin wasn’t acting on our behalf. We didn’t communicate inside or outside of bargaining with Herrin,”

Poshard also said Gov. Quinn’s administration had contacted him, as well as the trustees, and threatened to wipe the board clean if Herrin was not re-elected Chairman.

“I said to that person that called me from the governor’s staff, ‘Fine. You will not intimidate me. I will not run away from you in fear, I’ve never done that in my whole life, and I’m not starting it right now’,” he said.

The Search Committee

During a Nov. 8 board meeting, Herrin and Poshard clashed over newly mandated state legislation requiring universities to establish a search firm procurement policy for university chancellors and presidents. However, Herrin said Poshard changed language in the university’s new policy that would allow Poshard to consult a search firm without reaching out to trustees first.

“I cannot support (search firm selection) without it coming back to the Board of Trustees,” Herrin said.

However, university general counsel Jeffrey McLellan said the policy did not violate the legislation, and SIU-Edwardsville student trustee David Hamilton suggested Poshard be required to contact the board first. Hightower argued policy issues should have been brought up during the board’s executive session.

“There’s an appropriate way to (ask for modifications),” Hightower said. “That’s what we as trustees should strive to do. This is not the forum to (discuss changes). We’re not going to do so. We will follow the protocol.”

During a press conference, Hightower said a majority of BOT members stood behind Poshard.

“It’s obvious that all trustees overall, with the possible exception of Mr. Herrin, who raised this question and continues to do so, believe in the president and (that) he’s following the policy,” Hightower said. “We have no issues with our president.”

The Replacements

The rumors of Gov. Quinn cutting board members came true when he appointed three new trustees just days before the BOT’s first 2013 meeting.

The day before the Feb. 28 scheduled meeting, Herrin delivered the news that the Senate rejected Quinn’s appointments because he had not consulted it first.

New appointees Melvin Terrell and Lee Milner were present at the board’s executive session, and Herrin — who was elected Chair Pro Tempore after Simmons was let go — told them they had to leave before closed session because they were not board members.

Herrin said the senate argument over the appointments became heated.

“I’ve been aware, a little earlier in the day, that they talked about me on the senate floor way the hell more than they talked about (Milner and Terrell), OK?” Herrin said during the executive session. “I got ripped up pretty good myself. I don’t know why, but I believe in karma, and having said that, I regret it.”

The trustees had to cancel their scheduled meeting because Milner, Terrell, and third appointee Sandra Cook could not serve, and trustee Marquita Wiley was not present. During the press conference that followed, Poshard and Herrin debated the reasons behind the replacements.

“Once again, the governor gave people their walking orders to do something that they needed to be independent of, and he had assured everybody they would be independent of,” Poshard said.

Herrin then pointed to a December 2012 SIU basketball game the ousted trustees did not attend as an example of why Quinn dismissed them.

Poshard responded by noting Herrin did not attend the Edwardsville chancellor interviews, but Herrin said the issues were different because the trustees already were in town for the next day’s meeting when they skipped the game.

“We’re not only comparing apples to oranges,” he said. “We’re talking about apples and grapefruits.”

With the release of Hightower’s, Hinrich’s, and Simmon’s positions, the board has no SIUE graduates, and all three Quinn appointees were SIUC graduates.

The argument became more focused on the animosity between Herrin and Poshard as it continued.

Herrin cited a time when he used his podiatrist training to help Poshard as an example of the relationship he thought the two had.

“I helped him not too terribly long ago,” he said. “His wife had a foot problem and asked me. We met at Houlihan’s in the parking lot and looked at her.”

Herrin also said he invited former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to a Poshard benefit, but Poshard countered by saying he invited Daley, not Herrin.

Despite the controversy, Herrin said he would continue to do his best to serve the university.

“There is no one, no one, who would want unity at this university more than me,” he said. “I’ll bend over six ways from Sunday. I will cooperate with anybody, everybody.”

The Fallout

Poshard apologized for furthering the BOT controversy during his March 6 State of the University address.

“For any discredit that I have brought upon this university with respect to recent events, I apologize,” he said.

Poshard said his long association with the university compelled him to speak up.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to be silent,” he said. “That’s all I’ll say.”

Meera Komarraju, Faculty Senate president and an associate professor of psychology, said senate members agree the trustees should refocus on the university’s best interest rather than personal agendas.

“Everything else should fade into the background, any other issue that might be there,” she said.

The controversy has extended beyond the trustees. Several Metro East congressmen have introduced bills that would change the way the university operates.

Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and William Haine, D-Alton, supported a bill that would require the board to consist of three SIUC trustees, three SIUE trustees, and one SIU School of Medicine trustee. Manar pointed to the lack of SIUE trustees as the reason behind the bill.

“The governor made selections that are not based on the geography of the system. There has to be an accounting for that, not one of his appointments is an SIUE (graduate). It is illogical,” Manar said in a March 4 Telegraph article.

The bill passed the senate executive committee 9-4 and will be brought before the Senate.

Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, submitted a bill Feb. 27 that would abolish the board and give each university their own BOT. The SIU School of Medicine would be combined with SIUE. However, Poshard said the board would work with congressmen to see why the bill would not be feasible.

During its March 19 meeting, the Carbondale City Council adopted a resolution to oppose separation of the two universities; the resolution cites the creation of redundant jobs as a primary factor in council members’ disapproval.

The School of Medicine’s setup, which would require the program to move, would cause problems with the division, City Manager Kevin Baity said.

“First-year medical students actually do their coursework here on campus,” he said. “And if this split were to occur, those students and the faculty would relocate to another university, and then the staffing would move to those universities as well.”

The council voted unanimously to pass the resolution.

The Board of Trustee’s next scheduled meeting is April 3 in Carbondale, but Quinn has not yet replaced the three ousted trustees.