Those who can’t do either become administrators at SIU.

Negotiations between administrators and faculty have recently stalled. Actually, this is not entirely accurate – they have been derailed by the administration. The administration is demanding far too much, and besides, there’s no money for raises.

And it appears that they speak the truth. After all, state money was cut, and SIU had to raise tuition just to cover the costs. The greedy teachers want to snatch up money that just doesn’t exist.

But the administration is not exactly standing on the corner, pockets turned inside out, asking, “Brother, can you spare a dime?”

On the contrary, they’ve managed to find the financial wherewithal to hire three new administrators . . . at a combined $67,000 above the national average for those positions.

Meanwhile, SIU faculty is compensated (and I use that term loosely) 28 percent below national norms. $67,000 is a large sum of money to waste on three administrators, but it pales in comparison to the astounding amount that the administration squanders yearly.

The Faculty Association calculates that SIU’s cost of ??20?? central administration exceeds that of peer universities by nearly $40 million dollars. Administration is, of course, essential to the functions of the University. After all, without all the vice chancellors, the college would be … wait, what does a vice chancellor do anyway?

A University is not a set of buildings or a group of bureaucrats. It is shared knowledge; a university is the give and take of ideas between teachers and students. Without teachers, the University cannot exist. Without administrators, let’s face it:No one would notice for at least a couple of months.

It is an outrageous injustice to the students of this University to spend lavishly on the administration and to shortchange the faculty. The Faculty Association calls it a matter of priorities. Some might call it a crime against the students of SIU and the taxpayers of Illinois.

The $40 million being wasted on excessive administrative costs are dollars that come from our pockets. Don’t students and taxpayers have a right to demand that this money be used for its intended purpose, education?

Undergraduate Student Government seems to think so. USG passed a resolution supporting the faculty’s attempt to secure economic justice. The administration has refused to listen, so a mediator has been called in to iron out the differences and hopefully prevent a strike. No one wants a strike, not least of all the students. A strike will disrupt many students’ graduation plans, and students will be justifiably angry if and when one occurs.

Their anger should not be directed at those with picket signs, however, but at those who left the faculty no other choice but to strike.

Faculty demands are not purely financial. The trend at SIU has been toward fewer and fewer full (tenured) professors. This means, along with substantially less pay, less job security. For the student, this means fewer experienced teachers, and teachers who, out of fear for their job, are less likely to be innovative or to broach controversial topics or methods of teaching.

The faculty also wishes to have a hand in choosing new hires. This seems to be a logical request. After all, who better to choose a new professor than that professor’s future peers? The administration doesn’t approve of this method, however. Faculty hiring new faculty smacks of – gasp – democracy.

There is nothing an administrator fears more then democracy. Next thing you know, someone might suggest that the students should have a hand in making “administrative” decisions, too. Well, why not? Why shouldn’t the students who attend the school and the teachers who teach there have a say in the workings of the University?

Central administration would be obsolete, which is precisely what they fear. The administration is afraid that students and taxpayers will wake up and realize that administrators, with their huge six figure salaries, are not needed – that they might realize that a University could be run democratically, without the waste of a central administration.

If the bulging and bloated top is cut from SIU, there are plenty of funds left to be used for education and fair salaries.

Administrators are, of course, not going anywhere. They are entrenched in their positions of power and are loathe to give them up. Change is possible, however, but it needs public support; the faculty cannot stand alone. The administration needs to learn that money should go to education first.

As the Faculty Association says, it’s simply a matter of priorities.