Walter Wendler

Well, there is a name I hadn't heard from in at least five years.  Former SIUC President and director of the School of Architecture until 2015 Walter Wendler popped back up in the news this week. He has moved back to his original school as the President and got national attention when he  decided to cancel a student sponsored drag show, saything such shows degrade women. Lawsuit filed.

SIUC Plans

Chancellor Walter Wendler got forced out and we have not heard anything regarding his "Southern at 150" plan.

 Chancellor Rita Cheng leaves for Arizona and her rebranding plans for SIUC come to a screetching halt.

Given this track record, I imagine the passing of Chancellor Carlos Montemagno will mean the end of the planned restructuring of the university.

SIUC Drop in Enrollment

As the Southern reported, SIUC enrollment dropped about 4%, continuing a decline the university has seen since the early 90s, when it peaked at just over 24,000 students. Attendance is now about 30% off that point, but each year's drop has only been about 3-4%, not enough to cause concern on their own. It's only when you look at the cumulative total that the number becomes worrying.

A chunk of the problem is the lack of what George H. W. Bush called the "vision thing". With the possible exception of Walter Wendler, none of the chancellors at the university since Delyte Morris, has had a strong vision for where the university should go

New Strategic Plan

Apparently "Southern at 150" has been consigned to the dustbin of history.  I am not sure how we are in a "different era for public higher education."  Does that fact that less money is floating around make it a different era?  Does this mean that, since Saluki Way was part of Southern at 150, work will cease on it while the university develops another strategic plan?

I get the feeling that, ever since Walter Wendler was forced out as Chancellor, the university has planned to scrap his ambitious (and tainted by charges of plagerism) strategic plan.  Now, quietly it has and we shall see what is presented as the next plan to lead SIUC back to greatness (or at least increasing enrollments.).

Wendler to Texas?

Looks like ex-chancellor and current professor of architecture Walter Wendler is under consideration for the dean's position at the UTSA's school of architecture. Interesting that they're lookin gat him, given his rocky past here. However, his time spent in the University of Texas system may be a mitigating factor.