By William Hatfield and Jason Freund

A December Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board hearing to determine if SIU President Ted Sanders intentionally excluded faculty union members from the SIUC Chancellor search may not be necessary if negotiations to settle the issue prior to the hearing are successful.

Faculty Union President Jim Sullivan confirmed Monday that negotiations are ongoing between the union and the University to reach a settlement in the unfair labor practice charge filed in September. Sullivan, however, would not comment further.

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Sanders expressed optimism about reaching a settlement without outside intervention.

Jim Sullivan and I have had some very productive conversations, Sanders said. We should make a joint statement sometime in the very near future.

The complaint, filed Sept. 26 by the faculty union, alleges Sanders excluded activist members of the faculty union to the 12-person search committee. The committee was formed in July to replace acting Chancellor Donald Beggs, who will remain chancellor until July 1, 1998.

The administration has responded that they were seeking diversity and had no knowledge of which search candidates were union members, and that even if the charges are correct, the association has no legal right for representation on the committee

Previously the Labor Relations Board denied the Association’s request for an injunction, which would have allowed the board to petition the Jackson County Circuit Court to order the University to place a union member on the committee. They then set a Dec. 9 date for a hearing, which was later postponed pending a settlement.

Margaret Winters, associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and spokeswoman for the administration, shared Sanders optimism that an out-of-hearing settlement would be reached.

I think the only comment is that we are very hopeful that this is a sign that the faculty association and the University can work together and find ways of settling differences, she said.

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