Strange negotiations between Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and University fund-raisers for the Paul Simon Institute on Public Policy have SIUC officials rethinking Simon’s salary offers, an SIU official says.

Also, ethical questions concerning Simon’s ability to help with the institutes fund-raising have fund-raisers discussing other options.

SIU Chancellor Ted Sanders said at a press conference on Wednesday that Simon’s salary for his position as chair of the institute still has not been set because Simon has not accepted any offers.

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Although Sanders did not say what the offers were, he did say Simon has said the salary offers from SIU have been too high.

It’s been a strange kind of negotiation, Sanders said. He’s intent on talking us down.

Sanders said that although no salary has been set, SIU is prepared to move forward and do the necessary fund-raising for the Simon Institute.

Robert Quatroche, vice president of Institutional Advancement and the fund-raising director, said a fund-raising team is planning a meeting with Simon in Washington, D.C. sometime in November to discuss fund-raising strategies.

Sanders said Simon and the team are meeting to give a better definition of the institute.

Quatroche said endowed chairs such as Simon’s usually cost about $1.5 million to $2 million, and the money needed to run the institute is about $1 million to $2 million.

We are just beginning the exploratory discussions on strategies to be conducted to raise the money for the chair, Quatroche said. It’s going to take awhile.

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Simon accepted an offer on Sept. 18 to chair the institute, teach and lecture at SIU when he retires from the U.S. Senate in January 1997. Simon will work out of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts and the College of Liberal Arts .

Sanders said SIU does not want the fund-raising efforts to affect Simon’s performance as a senator. He said SIU is going to use the traditional and proven methods of donations and contributions to fund the chair.

We are not building our strategy around the belief that Simon could contribute to the fund-raising, he said.

David Carle, Simon’s spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Simon has written a letter to the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to get approval before he involves himself in any plans related to the institute’s fund-raising.

Carle said Simon wrote the letter to make sure he is not violating any ethics rules or regulations.

According to campaign financing laws, the money remaining in Simon’s campaign fund when he retires could be used for many things, including funding the endowed chair and institute.

Carle said there is about $500,000 in Simon’s campaign fund now but it is unclear at this point how much money will remain when Simon retires. Sanders said he was aware of the possibility of the leftover campaign funds being used for the fund-raising, but he and Simon have not talked about it.

Frankly, I don’t know that we will, Sanders said.