Daily Egyptian Politics Editor

SIUC Chancellor candidate Frederick Dobney cites improvements in campus-wide communication and cutting administrative fat as changes he would make if named chancellor.

Dobney, executive vice president and provost for Michigan Technological University, told a small crowd in the University Museum Wednesday his plans to better SIUC.

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Part of his plan for better leadership would mean streamlining the University, particularly in departments he sees as too bureaucratic.

There tends to be a bureaucracy, and Student Affairs seems to be larger than most, he said. There is probably a lot more captains than privates in that army.

Part of his plan also involves outside help.

I should have significant opportunities to appoint people from outside the University, he said.

Dobney said improved communication would result in several long-term positive effects, including better retention rates and more money for the University.

He compared Michigan Technological University’s 83 to 87 percent retention rate, which he considered low, to SIUC’s rate of 40 to 50 percent.

It’s a lot easier to get students to stay here than it is to get them to come here, or at least it should be, he said.

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One of the by-products of improved communication is an increase in shared governance with students concerning University policy.

If there isn’t a statement of students rights, then is a problem, he said.

There needs to be some recognition of students to administrators.

Dobney said with retention problems and other concerns, SIUC is facing troubled times, but he would rather work at a potential problem school because he can play an active role in resolving conflicts.

Dobney said that under his leadership the University could raise more money to provide more scholarships or stipends to students, freeing up federal money for other improvements on campus, such as better equipment for Information Technology.

As a result, more money for student scholarships or stipends would come directly from SIUC instead of from the federal government.

There is no problem that money can’t solve, he said. Now if we can just find a big pot of money somewhere.

That proposed pot of gold would be additional money accumulated through an aggressive fund-raising campaign.

At Michigan Tech, he said, he has been working on a plan to raise $100 million in the next five years.

I think with the right leadership, we can do that here, he said.

Also with the right leadership, Dobney said the issue of whether or not the SIUC faculty should unionize would have never been raised. He said abysmally low salaries led faculty to unionize.

I feel bad for faculty here, he said.

It would not have happened if I was here, but it’s too late in a sense.

In closing, Dobney cited his sometimes blunt candor as both a strength and a liability.

Unfortunately, I usually say what I think, he said. I can be persuaded that I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.