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‘60s alumnus reflects The Alestle samples on racial tensions sushi across local during time at SIUE seafood scene
Rocky, fight-filled hockey sees defeat for UW-Milwaukee
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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Thursday, September 28, 2023 Vol. 77 No. 5
the student voice since 1960
‘Is it incompetence, or is it corruption?’ Multiple unions protest at Board of Trustees meeting BRUCE DARNELL managing editor Tensions grew after members and representatives from different unions took the floor to voice their discontent with SIUE’s handling of the ongoing union contract negotiations. Once the doors opened to the public, Chancellor James Minor followed two representatives from the SIU Medical School in giving his report on SIUE. Minor spoke about SIUE’s Bronze Boot win, a large donation to the Honors Program and the beginning of construction for the new Health Sciences building. After Minor, Chancellor Austin Lane gave his report on SIUC. Once the reports were finished, the floor opened to speakers. Amy Bodenstab, office manager in
the Department of Teaching and Learning and vice president of AFSCME Local 2887, was the first to take the podium. “In order to decide what anything is worth, one must first know what is being discussed,” Bodenstab said. “Yet those across the table from us are unable to explain what duties and responsibilities we carry for the university. 448 days without a contract, and they still haven’t bothered to find out.” Bodenstab said the union has requested an itemized budget for the past few months, but hasn’t been provided one from the university. “When a university is supposedly in debt, yet wastes money on things like rebranding, paying consultants and paying out bonuses to an already substantially compensated few, is that incompetence or corruption?” Bodenstab asked. Bodenstab said that while six-figure
AFSCME Local 2887 Vice President Amy Bodenstab addresses the Board of Trustees as various union members hold up signs in support. | Bruce Darnell / The Alestle
Board Vice Chair Ed Hightower (left) responds to the union’s comments, imploring civil dialogue between the two parties, while SIU System President Dan Mahony (right) listens. | Bruce Darnell / The Alestle
bonuses are given out to well-compensated individuals with foundation funds, departments are unable to use $200 to benefit students with those same funds. She then made note of a problem with getting federal information to the union. “When a Freedom of Information Act request is met with, ‘We gave the information to someone else,’ which I have now figured out is an illegal response, is that incompetence or corruption?”
Bodenstab asked. Bodenstab went on to note that the Board meetings are held during hours when people are either working or teaching. “Claiming a meeting is public, yet holding it when few can attend, is that incompetence or is that corruption?” Bodenstab asked. see PROTEST on page 3
Advising issues still affecting students, faculty MADISON SAMPLE online editor The chancellor’s 283 initiative intends to retain freshmen by increasing their sense of belonging on campus, but some students are leaving due to negative experiences with the academic advising department. Former SIUE nursing student Van Cory said she left the university for many reasons — one being the lack of support and guidance from the advising department which resulted in her losing her scholarship. “Because of the advising issues I faced, it ended up costing me not only my scholarships, but also over $10,000 out of pocket, and, really, my love for the university,” Cory said. “I felt like I wasn’t important enough to even be paid attention to, and that in
itself was a big factor in me leaving the university.” According to Cory, she was sent in circles attempting to find who in advising could help her meet her specific needs. “I was in the Summer Success Program and I had already knocked out some of my prerequisites. With that, I needed the curriculum I was taking tailored because I had already passed those classes,” Cory said. “I talked to a couple of different advisors and I got sent in circles. Email circles, Zoom circles, ‘show up at this office at this time’ circles, but nothing would ever be resolved.” Professor and Chair of the History Department Allison Thomason said professors and department chairs have seen the struggles students have experienced with advising and are working with these students the
best they can. “It can take awhile to get an appointment and students can’t get their code, so they can’t always get into the classes that fill up really quickly,” Thomason said. “We are supposed to be mentors to help students, but we can’t actually give them the code to register because it’s actually the union that controls that code. Hopefully the chairs of other departments have reached out to their students to offer help as much as they can.” Thomason said that, at the end of the day, it is up to students to figure out what courses they need to take and that advisors should only be used as a check to ensure they are on the right track. “I always tell students that advisors are just that, and that it is on the initiative of the student to read the catalog, know the re-
quirements and know what’s being offered,” Thomason said. “That way when they walk into their advising appointment they finally get, they have a list of what they need to take and then the advisor is a sounding board and so can a faculty mentor.” According to Thomason, the shortage and high turnover of advisors the university has experienced in previous semesters has been somewhat alleviated this fall. “Oftentimes, a requirement for becoming an advisor is a master’s degree, and many advisors have left after getting a higher paying job,” Thomason said. “Meanwhile, there were so many positions left that we were in crisis mode to try to hire people, [which was] especially the case in the College of Arts and Sciences.” CAS advisor Justin Huff,
who has returned to SIUE after briefly working at St. Louis University, said that having more advisors has significantly helped existing advisors decrease their workloads. “My caseload has decreased since my return to the university partly because we were able to hire new advisors. Before I left, caseloads were outrageous and were hard to keep up with,” Huff said. “It still can be stressful at times, but it is now a little easier on advisors. As long as we can hang onto advisors, I foresee that it will help students a lot.” According to Huff, part of the university’s new 283 initiative should focus on helping the advising department to offer the best advising experience possible to all students, especially freshmen. see ADVISING on page 2