THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
Salukis stomp Saints 49-3 Full story and photos on pages 6 and 7
VOL. 109, ISSUE 3
PK’s retires alleyway beer garden as hotel expands parking
Jackson Brandhorst jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com
SIU running back Jimmy Athans (32) pushes past the Thomas More defense as the Salukis beat the Saints in their season opener on Aug. 30, 2025 at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. Lylee Gibbs | @lyleegibbsphoto
SIU denies FOIA request asking for all syllabi Morrigan Carey mcarey@dailyegyptian.com
SIU refused to comply with a midAugust Freedom of Information Act request from a media organization, Metric Media, for a complete list of classes, professors and syllabi from the spring 2025 term. The request, which professors say is a scare tactic, was sent to SIU among other schools around the country. On Aug. 17, SIU FOIA officer Holly Rick sent a signed letter in response to the request stating that the Illinois Freedom of Information Act exempts “course and research materials used by (university) faculty.” Other universities in the state have responded similarly to these FOIA requests, including SIU Edwardsville and the University of Illinois system. Western Illinois University’s FOIA office was contacted via email, but did not respond to requests for comment. This clause, 5 ICLS 140/7 (1)(j) (iv), does not explicitly cover syllabi, and Illinois FOIA law follows a policy of presumption of disclosure where, under section 1.2, any records in the hands of a public body are assumed to be open to the public unless proved otherwise. It states, “Any public body
that asserts that a record is exempt from disclosure has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that it is exempt.” Because of this, the refusal of these requests by Illinois universities could be subject to appeal. Metric Media is an online media company registered in Missouri but based out of Delaware. Their content has been described by the Columbia Journalism Review and Deseret News as “pink slime journalism,” a term coined in 2012 by journalist Ryan Smith to draw comparisons between processed, low quality meat and low quality, templated or stolen content. Articles appeared on Aug. 6 on approximately 145 of Metric Media’s “pink slime” news sites across the country each detailing a FOIA request calling for the syllabi of each course offered last spring at nearby publiclyfunded colleges. According to their own website, Metric Media owns over 1,300 websites across the country and in all 50 states, each one bearing the name of a local county, city or town, but has no apparent offices besides an address in Dover, Delaware buried at the bottom FOIA | 4
A COVID-era concept was laid to rest in Carbondale last week as the PK’s alleyway beer garden was dismantled to make way for through traffic down the side street along the bar’s south side. Prompted by a parking expansion project from the bar’s neighbor, Home2 Suites by Hilton, the removal of the beer garden was not received well by many in the Carbondale community, who voiced their opinions through comments on Facebook, comments at the Aug. 26 City Council meeting and at a vigil held outside the bar on Aug. 27. While both PK’s owner Walter Witkewiz and city officials acknowledge the validity of the community’s concerns, both said that much of the public’s response has been fueled by a misunderstanding of the situation. The city and the bar’s management collectively closed off the alleyway to through traffic in 2020 so that the bar could comply with statewide COVID precautions that prompted businesses to create outdoor spaces so that they met certain social distancing requirements. What was supposed to be a temporary solution to combat the spread of COVID blossomed into a beloved beer garden that served as a secondary space for PK’s patrons and even as an alternate stage for the occasional outdoor concert. The community grew attached to the space, and when Witkewiz removed it on Aug. 24, questions began to arise as to why. “These discussions have been going on a couple times a year since we first started using the alley,” Witkewiz told the Daily Egyptian. “Decisions started getting made when construction of the new parking lot started. I was told that the alley would be needed for through traffic once the parking lot was finished, and that I would need to move everything before they started digging up the alley for the water drainage system. “They broke ground on that project last week,” Witkewiz said. “I saw sewer material at the job site, but I was never given a time frame on when that would start. So I said I’d have it all out on Sunday (Aug. 24) to avoid a situation where I would be unavailable to move it. Perhaps that was a hasty decision on my end.”
PK’S | 2
Dena Rendleman | @dena.rendleman