THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
VOL. 108, ISSUE 5
Cardinal comeback falls short to give Salukis win over Incarnate Word
SIU passes FY25 budget; Carbondale campus at 9.4 M deficit
Nick Pfannkuche npfannkuche@dailyegyptian.com
Mylee Walker mwalker@dailyegyptian
Despite having had a big lead at halftime, the air was tense in Saluki Stadium. Incarnate Word had crawled their way back into the football game. Still, with one more stop, SIU would come away with a win. So when a toss-up on fourth down was hauled in by a maroon jersey, the Saluki faithful were able to breathe a sigh of relief. “Those are the moments we train for all off-season,” Shug Walker said. On Saturday, No. 8 SIU hosted the No. 14 Cardinals of the University of Incarnate Word (UIW) in a matchup between two Football Championship Subdivision ranked teams. The Cardinals got the ball to start the game. They picked up a first down on a Saluki penalty, but would go no further, punting the ball away to the Dawgs. SIU got the first blow of the night with their first possession. DJ Williams found Keontez Lewis open up the middle for a 37-yard touchdown. Keontez Lewis ran all over UIW on the night. The wide receiver finished the game with 205 all-
On Thursday Sept. 12, the Southern Illinois University System Board of Trustees approved the fiscal year 2025 budget while the Carbondale campus is operating on a deficit of nearly 9.5 million dollars. “What you’ll hear today… is our best attempt to kind of manage those continued issues most universities have,” President Daniel Mahony said to the board on Sept. 11 at an executive meeting. “We have some lingering issues that come from years of disinvestment from the state as well as declines of enrollment that we have to address.” With a revenue of $408,698,700 and $418,186,600 in expenditures and transfers, SIU’s Carbondale campus is working with a $9,487,900 deficit. Tuition is just under 19% of the revenue in this budget. The general revenue, which comes from the state and taxes, is 26.5% of the revenue. The largest expense for the university is “Personal Services”, defined by James Madison University as expenditures related to departmental staffing, including compensation; salaries and wages (full-time and part-time); and all related benefits, taking up 47% of expenses. The second biggest expense is “Contractual Services”, which is 20.7% of expenses. Even so, Mahony says that SIU is in a better position than a lot of universities. “It’s certainly better than what we are seeing nationally…I think 2% of universities cease to exist. A large number of others have had to make drastic cuts, including cutting tenure faculty members, which is an unusual thing for universities to do,” Mahony said. “I’m pleased to say that for FY24 we are in a fairly good position,” SIU Carbondale Chancellor Austin Lane said. “The biggest two variables in our university budget is enrollment, as President Mahony noted we’ve had pretty stable support from the state, which we are grateful for.” Even with the increase in enrollment at both of the universities this year, there is still a backlog of struggles, including budget cuts, the system is trying to overcome. “With respect for FY25, our focus will be enrollment and retention,” Lane said.
Nah’shawn Hezekiah points towards the end zone after catching a pass Sept. 14th, 2024 at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. Hezekiah, tallied in 118 yards during Saturday night’s win against Incarnate Word. Simeon Hardley | @Simshardphotography
purpose yards, 148 receiving and a 57-yard rushing touchdown. “I think everyone saw how fast
he is,” Saluki head coach Nick Hill said. Incarnate Word responded with
a deep drive of their own. A 29yard completion set up a goal line
CARDINAL COMEBACK | 6
Family Weekend 2024: A chance to experience the place students call home Annalise Schmidt aschmidt@dailyegyptian.com
Illustration by Yarauseth Zavala | @zavala.designs
SIU is gearing up for one of its most anticipated events of the year — Family Weekend 2024. From Sept. 19-21, students, their families and friends are invited to participate in a variety of campus activities. The weekend will include events such as tailgates, sports, campus tours and performances. For families visiting Carbondale, it offers a chance to experience the place students call home. Aaliyah Ross, a student who works for the New Student Programs
office, reflected on its significance. She said, “Inviting my own family to come down, cheer me on a little bit, stay the weekend — they made me feel better [when] I’m at school… being five, six hours away from home.” During the first semester, students often go through a significant adjustment period as they settle into their new environment and routines. “I would say just having some sort of familiarity around you is important,” Ross said. “I’m sure for these incoming freshmen things are FAMILY WEEKEND | 3
Staff reporter Mylee Walker can be reached at mwalker@dailyegyptian.com