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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026
Choate workers rally against cuts, page 9
VOL. 110, ISSUE 2
University continues ‘strategic hiring,’ page 10
SIU Foundation pays $2.2M to cancel MOU MOU was for new dorms on grounds of Greek Row BRAYDEN GUY News Editor Southern Illinois University administrators and trustees donned Saluki-branded hard hats as the bucket of an excavator tore through the old student housing of Greek Row on Aug. 6, 2025. Cheers erupted as plumes of dust filled the air and the long-vacant buildings dissolved into rubble. The
celebration, hosted by the SIU Foundation, marked the end of an era for a historic piece of Carbondale’s campus. In its place, officials promised modernized housing that would eliminate a festering eyesore and help boost enrollment. But a year later, the project has ground to a halt: Eight of the 14 buildings are still standing, filled with water and
trash. The SIU Foundation paid $2.2 million to walk away from an agreement with a Georgia-based real estate developer for the new housing, and the future of the project remains in limbo. ‘From the ashes’ Greek Row, formerly known as Small Group Housing, was constructed in 1959, a boom era at SIU Carbondale, the VILLAGE | 4
Items float in the water at the downstairs level outside of an old Greek Row building July 21, 2026 at SIU in Carbondale, Illinois. Peyton Cook | @cookmeavisual
Stix to reopen under new name, new vibe
Stix Bar and Billiards sits on 517 S. Illinois Ave. under construction Aug. 11, 2026 in Carbondale, Illinois. Peyton Cook | @cookmeavisual JACKSON BRANDHORST Staff Reporter The building formerly home to Stix on The Strip is reopening under the same ownership with a new name, a new look and a much different atmosphere. Joshua Edwards, who also owns Levels Nightclub and another college bar in Columbus, Ohio, confirmed that he is rebranding the former Carbondale staple as The Park. Renovations are already underway, and Edwards said the transformation will be extensive.
“It’s going to be The Park,” Edwards said. “We’re doing a face-lift on the inside — it’s been pretty much completely gutted. The outside, over the next week and a half, should see a huge face-lift. All the windows are coming down, garage doors are going in. We’re trying to open it up a little bit and get some new lighting on the outside.” The concept, Edwards said, will lean heavily into a sports-bar atmosphere, with gaming, televisions and lounge spaces throughout. Edwards confirmed that the
bar will still have its iconic four-sided island bar layout. “We are definitely going for a sports bar vibe,” Edwards said. “It’s definitely not going to be another Levels.” “The place will be lined with TVs,” he said. “But there will also be chill areas. The focus will be on sports and giving a huge face-lift to the city on the main strip.” The Carbondale City Council approved the liquor license on Aug. 11 for The Park LLC at 517 S. Illinois Ave., and council member Nathan Colombo
said that he is excited to see the space return to use and appreciates Edwards’ efforts as a Carbondale business owner. Stix closed in 2019 shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic as Edwards shifted his attention toward reopening Levels. The bar returned in 2022 but closed again the following year. Its latest vacancy left one of The Strip’s most recognizable nightlife spaces dark at a time when Carbondale’s downtown bar scene had already STIX | 3
Former SIU professor pleads guilty to reckless conduct JACKSON BRANDHORST Staff Reporter The former Southern Illinois University professor accused last year of posting videos of himself masturbating in several places on campus pleaded guilty Aug. 5 to a charge of reckless conduct after admitting he recorded himself doing so in a lecture hall hallway and
posted it online. Kyle Miller, a 35-yearold former professor at the SIU School of Medicine, was the subject of a March 2025 social media exposé led by extreme right-wing online influencer Chaya Raichik, who operates the popular Libs of TikTok account. The
thread targeted Miller for sexual content Raichik alleged he was posting under the social media handle @Midwest0tter. The Libs of TikTok thread garnered more than 3 million views on Twitter/X, singling Miller out and directing national attention toward the university. Raichik alleged that Miller
had filmed himself masturbating in SIU lecture halls, offices, stairwells and hallways and posted the videos across several social media platforms. The thread included screenshots showing a man, who Raichik alleged to be Miller, in various states of undress in recognizable areas of the SIU campus. The thread came amid an PROFESSOR | 3
Carbondale City Council bans public camping JACKSON BRANDHORST two years, with each day Staff Reporter counted as a separate offense. The Carbondale City Loos proposed that the Council on Aug. 11 banned council remove language in the camping and sleeping on ordinance that states that the city public property within city could pursue the incarceration of limits following months individuals who have violated the of debate among residents ordinance and not paid the fines. and elected officials about His amendment was passed, homeless encampments and however it did not technically how the city handles them. solve the issue at hand. In a nearly four-hour Loos said that violating meeting, councilmembers the ordinance itself is not a Brian Stanfield, Adam misdemeanor, and said that he Loos and Dawn Roberts, takes issue with the idea that alongside Mayor Carolin someone could be arrested Harvey, voted in favor of the for it. However, Carbondale ordinance, which had been City Attorney Jamie Snyder revised following its original clarified that actually, the city introduction in March. could still arrest someone Councilmembers Nathan for it if they avoid paying Colombo and Nancy Maxwell the fines or fail to appear in voted no. Councilmember court whether that language Clare Killman was absent. remains within the city code The ordinance prohibits or not. Snyder said the city is sleeping or camping on unlikely to do so in instances public property, including of homelessness. sidewalks, streets, alleys, parks, “When an individual gets a benches, bridges and other ticket, if they fail to show up, city-owned property at any one of the options is default time. Notably, the ordinance judgment being entered prohibits sleeping separately against them for the amount from its definition of “public of the fine,” Snyder said. camping,” meaning a person “When they’re an unhoused does not necessarily need to individual or have no means have a tent, bedding or other to pay the fines, we typically possessions to violate it. vacate those fines as being The city defines a campsite uncollectible.” as any outdoor space used In a rare instance of as a temporary place to live interjection following several where bedding, a stove or a comments from the public fire is present. A tent is not and back and forth between necessarily required to be council members, Harvey considered camping, and took time to express her the definition can include a support for the ordinance, vehicle. It also restricts sleeping addressing concerns from the in vehicles overnight, however, community while clarifying the original ordinance that the camping prohibition language was changed to only applies to public spaces. reflect that it does not apply “This ordinance is only for to commercial truck drivers in public property,” Harvey said. some instances. “If I want to take my daughter The city generally must or son to Evergreen Park, give 48 hours of notice why should I have to be by before removing a campsite, someone who lives in the park unless officials determine it in an encampment?” is blocking access, creating Harvey said that there unsanitary conditions, are still several resources obstructing a public right- available to unhoused people of-way or posing a health or in Carbondale, and that the safety risk. city is continuing to work Fines for violating the on the issue of homelessness, ordinance increase from $25 something that she says is very for the first violation to as near and dear to her heart. much as $750 for a sixth or Several members of the subsequent violation within CAMPING | 3