DE Assistant Politics Editor

In an effort to increase state funding for SIU, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee was invited to tour the SIUC campus Monday to learn the issues affecting the University.

Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, R-Elgin, a chairman of the Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee, visited SIUC at the invitation of Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. Rauschenberger toured areas of the SIUC campus with Luechtefeld and SIU President Ted Sanders.

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The Appropriations Committee sets the budget for the state each year, including the allocations for SIUC.

I thought it would be good to give Sen. Rauschenberger some idea of the needs of the University, Luechtefeld said. He said he wanted the facilities of Southern Illinois, especially SIU, to receive funding from the Senate.

We want our fair share of dollars, Luechtefeld said.

Sanders said one of the focuses of the tour was SIU’s budget. He said issues facing both the Edwardsville and Carbondale campuses were discussed.

Sanders said other issues he thinks are most important for the senators to learn about SIU are the decline in student enrollment, budgeting, infrastructure needs and problems with deferred maintenance.

Rauschenberger said he also learned about faculty retention and salary issues.

We had a good discussion on retention of faculty and comparative salary issues, Rauschenberger said. It’s important we retain the best faculty we can, especially at SIU.

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Rauschenberger said along with SIU, he has been invited to tour other Illinois universities. He said he hopes to return with other members of the appropriations committee because he wants SIU and other universities to receive adequate funding.

Education is always the most talked about part of the budget, Rauschenberger said.

Rauschenberger said education experiences the largest increase of funding in the budget. He said he thought the SIUC visit gave him a chance to experience issues at the university level.

It was a great opportunity to find out what’s going on in education, he said.