THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025
VOL. 109, ISSUE 6
Pairing punches with paintings, page 2 | Men’s basketball gets noncon schedule, page 9 | New Carbondale police chief, page 10
THE RETURN OF
THE WHEEL For more photos and story, see pages 6-7
Lukus McDaniels (40) holds up the SIU v. SEMO rivalry wheel while surrounded by the rest of the SIU Football team after the Salukis beat SEMO 59 to 31 Sept. 20, 2025 at Houck Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Dominique Martinez-Powell | @d.martinezphoto
SIU Day of Giving smashes 2023 record by $1.7 million MORRIGAN CAREY MCAREY@DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SIU’s 10th annual Day of Giving was held on Sept. 17, 2025, raising over $5.7 million dollars to fund SIU scholarships, research and programs. This breaks the $4 million record set by the SIU foundation in 2023, as well as the 2024 total of $4.15 million split between fundraising events on Feb. 28 and Sept. 18, 2024. The slogan for this year’s Day of Giving was “We R1 of 21,” celebrating SIU’s status as both an R1 University and an Opportunity College and University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions for Higher Education, one of only 21 universities in the country to earn both classifications. “This year’s Day of Giving has been nothing short of historic,” Chancellor Austin Lane said in a news release. “The dual designation of Research 1 and Opportunity University captures exactly who we are: a place of groundbreaking discovery and expanded access. The generosity of our alumni and friends ensures we can continue to open doors for students while advancing research that changes lives.” Donations contribute to SIU’s IMAGiNE 2030 plan, which outlines five pillars of
improvement for SIU: student success and engagement; diversity, equity and inclusion; branding and partnerships; research and innovation; and sustainability. According to the SIU Foundation website, the money that is donated is put into foundation accounts for each individual school or organization. Donors could select a particular school, program or fund to donate to as well as the specific scholarship or fund. According to the SIU Foundation website, $3.17 million of the overall donations contributed to SIU athletics, including a $3 million dollar donation by SIU Alumnus Craig Englert to the women’s athletics fund. Colleges that received significant donations were the College of Business & Analytics, earning $281,156; the College of Engineering, Computing, Technology & Math, earning $146,105; and the Simmons Law School, earning $101,690. Other notable recipients include the Touch of Nature program, which received $131,879; the College of Arts and Media, which received $76,265; and the College of Health and Human Sciences, which received $57,710. “We’re always hopeful for a good turnout for the Day of Giving,” Assistant Vice GIVING | 8
SIU civil service workers seek raises as board approves FY26 budget
CARLY GIST CGIST@DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
The Sept. 18 SIU Board of Trustees meeting saw approval for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, but also a call for higher wages from SIU Carbondale’s civil service union. During public comments at SIU Edwardsville’s East St. Louis Center, members of SIUC’s Association of Civil Service Employees shared experiences of low morale, heavy workloads and unfair pay. “I was on campus recently, and we have the IMAGiNE banners all over, and I saw one that said ‘Imagine Equity,’ and I had to laugh kind of to myself, because given how staff are treated on campus, imagining that is all we can do,” Terry Richardson, ACsE president, said. “There is no evidence that we’ll ever receive this equity.” Civil service is a job classification at SIU that refers to non-academic employees, such as accountants, human resources, janitors and professional, technical and support staff positions. It is governed by the State Universities Civil Service System of Illinois, an agency that, according to Illinois.gov, aims to “develop, maintain, and administer a comprehensive and e$cient program of human resource administration for the higher education community.”
SUCSS falls under the State Universities Civil Service Merit Board, an 11-member board that oversees civil service decisions, including certification, appointments and promotions at public Illinois universities to ensure that they are made on the basis of merit. “Our civil service employees are the backbone of the university,” Rhonda Radford, an SIU accountant and ACsE representative said. “The amount of person-to-person interaction we have with students and their families is very significant. We facilitate student procedures and processes by assisting and guiding them through o$cial and uno$cial formalities, thereby keeping schools, colleges and the university as a whole running smoothly. At the same time, we have nonetheless not been regarded as valuable or essential university employees.” The SIU Board of Trustees allocates 30 minutes of their regular board meetings for public comments and asks that those wishing to speak contact the executive secretary prior to the meeting. However, 11 speakers were on the roster for Thursday’s meeting, so Chair J. Phil Gilbert allowed each speaker just three minutes to discuss their concerns. Radford used her three minutes to cite research WAGES | 9