K. Pettit put out a document that outlined what he saw as being the good and the bad of what the University would face in the last decade of the Twentieth Century.

At the Board of Trustees meeting Feb. 9, SIU President Ted Sanders proposed to the board a new framework for planning the University’s budget.

It is remarkable how these two documents parallel each other in their concerns for the University’s future, perhaps moreso because Sanders had not seen Pettit’s document until after making his proposal.

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For taking on and proposing a change in the budget planning process, we congratulate Sanders.

Sanders’ proposal calls for University budget planning coordinated with the University priorities he set out in December. The priorities include increased student retention and more student recruitment.

The proposal calls for colleges

and departments to set aside money from portions of their budget for funding of priority initiatives, equipment replacement and renovation, faculty professional development and changes in policies and infrastructure to increase University assets and salary adjustments for faculty with satisfactory or better performance.

Sadly, it seems coordinating of the budget planning process to achieve University-wide priorities is an unique idea at SIU.

At the Trustee’s meeting, Trustee Harris Rowe said Sanders’ proposal was more planned and practical than he had seen. Board Chairman A. D. VanMeter agreed with Rowe, saying the IBHE budget process makes it difficult to follow where money is spent, and Sanders’ proposal offers a clearer view of University spending.

Sanders said it is surprising that there has not been a change in the planning process before now. But he was told by the board before he came to SIU in July 1995 that they expected him to change the budget planning process.

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This change also comes on the heels of a Faculty Senate vote in December criticizing the administration’s handling of budget planning. The resolution stated the University has taken a single-minded approach to problems in its budget planning. Faculty Senate President Albert Kent said the University would reallocate money within the University instead of seeking more state funds.

This proposal is not simply change for the sake of change. The Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate and individual colleges have called for change. And Sanders has responded using the budget framework distributed by the Association of Governing Boards and then personalizing it for SIU.

Sanders has acknowledged that this change could spark concern in people because it is a deviation from the accepted past. But Pettit never directly linked his visions to the budget process while Sanders has tied in what he considers the University’s future priorities to budget planning.

This attempt at focusing the University budget process on set goals and criteria is indeed noteworthy and we commend Sanders for his efforts.