Our Word: Good luck, Dr. Poshard
January 22, 2007
We tried for several minutes Sunday to come up with something positive the university as a whole accomplished in the past 12 months.
Four of us and a professor sat in silence.
But there was no shortage of examples of things that have gone poorly since Jan. 2005, when SIUC President Glenn Poshard took the helm.
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Material from Southern at 150, the largest plan crafted in recent history to bring SIUC to the forefront of academia, was lifted from another school’s vision. A certain mustachioed chancellor was demoted. And a steady falloff of enrollment – along with dour forecasts of student numbers for this semester – say solutions to Poshard’s and the university’s troubles are a long, long way off.
We hate to say it, but this list can continue.
There’s been no shortage of bad publicity for SIUC in the past year. In turn, potential students have undoubtedly selected another destination, some current students are ashamed and those who chose not to come back this semester have plenty of reasons for their decision.
Namely, there is a “lack of pride on campus,” according to a marketing report commissioned by the university last semester. This complacency, the report states, is displayed in faculty and staff.
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If attitudes are contagious, the university’s future is frightening.
Poshard, a born and raised southern Illinoisan who earned all three of his degrees at the university he now runs, shoulders a brunt of the negativity. As the man in command, all fingers point to him – even after he cited low enrollment and other deficiencies when he announced the demotion of Walter Wendler in November.
The prognosis looked good for about an hour in September with Poshard’s Delyte Morris-like inauguration ceremony. The event was full of pomp, circumstance, grinning dignitaries, delicious finger foods and powerful words from Poshard that made us think everything was going to be all right.
After the hoopla, everything went downhill.
Board of Trustees meetings have been filled with insults and accusations rather than concentration on the core goal of SIUC – to educate students. On campus, SIUC’s main marketing tool, Media and Communication Resources has been labeled as “controlling” by the same marketing report that called it ineffective.
There are new challenges facing this university, much different than the ones former President Morris dealt with when he put SIUC on the map five decades ago.
Solutions cannot be found through infighting and departmental dictatorship.
There must be communication, an atmosphere of teamwork, pride and a collective goal to make this the best university possible. Most of these are listed in a 16-point list of goals the president has made for himself.
We wish Poshard all the luck as he embarks on his next 12 months as SIUC’s president.
He’s going to need it.
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