Faculty leaders such as Steve Jensen, John Preece, and Steve Scheiner certainly have the right to oppose the faculty union, but they would make a better case for their views if their comments were fair and objective.

Like these colleagues I am not a union member, and until lately, I have been concerned about the union’s effectiveness.

However, fair is fair. To say that union members are harming collegiality or contributing to our steady decline as a university is simply not true. If we had no union we would still be a party school with weak programs, poorly prepared students who are not adequately supported, a poorly paid and demoralized faculty, and an inadequate central administration.

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When I came here 26 years ago, SIUC was the second jewel in the state’s university system. Now we are far less, desperately competing with the local junior college to attract and retain weak students in an attempt to keep our numbers up. We are also saddled with a highly paid, ineffective, ever growing administration in contrast to a poorly paid, ever shrinking faculty.

It may be that the only way to improve as an institution is to have a faculty union that will oppose inadequate political appointees on the Board and as president. One which will work to see that the faculty is finally treated with respect and which will insure that meaningful educational opportunities are provided to our students.

I am particularly disappointed in the actions of professors Scheiner and Jensen in our recent chancellor search. After asking us to take it seriously, shouldn’t Scheiner explain why his committee came up with such a weak slate of candidates? Shouldn’t Steve Jensen explain why the fifth best candidate out of the final four was selected (surely Don Beggs would have been better) while he helped President Sanders negate the preference of the students and faculty.

In closing, these are desperate times for SIUC. Many of the faculty and citizens of our state are aware of the enormous problems we face as an educational institution. These problems are not the fault of the union but rather the fault of our elected state leaders who determine our board and of faculty such as these three colleagues.

The faculty voted for a union because they understand that the Faculty Senate, the Graduate Council and our campus leaders have repeatedly failed. Perhaps these failed leaders should give the union a chance.