Southern Illinois University will pay more than $1.7 million to about 1,500 current and former employees who had to take unpaid furlough days in 2011.

According to the ruling the university did not appeal Thursday, the administration at the time–President Glenn Poshard and Chancellor Rita Cheng–acted unfairly in contract negotiations, resulting in a six-day strike and four furlough days in 2011.

“It really made sense from a business standpoint, as well as an organizational and culture standpoint, to bring this chapter to a close and move on,” SIU President Randy Dunn said at a press conference Thursday in the Chancellor’s Office.

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He said at its March 19 meeting in Carbondale, the SIU Board of Trustees will discuss whether the university will also pay employees  not represented by the three unions–the Association of Civil Service Employees, the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association and the Faculty Association–who took furlough days. If the board chooses to do so, SIU will owe a total of $3 million.

“Now we are going to have to have a little bit of time to do the final calculations on all the employees impacted, and to get those payments made,” Dunn said. “I fully anticipate that that will take place within this fiscal year and those funds are available this fiscal year.”

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected]