Poshard Letter

Here's the email that was sent out by President Poshard that Chancellor Goldman referenced in this morning's interview on WSIU.

Dear SIU Employee,
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> Last week, at the request of the SIU Board of Trustees, I presented > the actions we have taken thus far in meeting the cash flow > problems we are currently experiencing as a result of a delay in > state funding. I emphasized the following points:
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> 1. That the question of our ability to meet November and December > payroll had been largely resolved since the measures we have > employed have been successful and the comptroller's office has > fulfilled our request for $15.5 million in November and has given > us assurances of another similar payment by mid-December.
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> 2. That January and February payroll would be fine since we will > be receiving new tuition and federal pell grant monies in January.
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> 3. That in the interest of complete transparency our projections > of cash flow indicate that without any state funding whatsoever > from December through February, we would be facing an even greater > problem in March. I described this as "an absolute worse case > scenario" and as "unimaginable". The odds of such a scenario > evolving are almost nil but it would be irresponsible not to > prepare for even the very worst case possible. Other universities > in Illinois have also articulated the same predicament in the last > several weeks. While we have taken many extraordinary steps to > manage our cash flow over the past few months, this remote > possibility would require even deeper cuts, however in order to > maintain our high quality of education it is our goal to avoid > layoffs altogether. To enact substantial cuts in personnel at this > time when the likelihood of state reimbursement is great would not > be a prudent step to take and would cause unnecessary pain to > hundreds of our employees.
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> The possibility of SIU being forced to close its doors from lack of > state support was only discussed in the context of this most > extreme possibility. I am absolutely confident that the state of > Illinois would never allow its public universities to fail and even > though the discussion of this remote possibility has caused concern > among the public, I am equally confident that the outstanding work > SIU performs in educating our students will continue unabated > through the spring and into future years.
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> While it is in our best interest to be completely open and > transparent about this issue before our university community, to > allow such a remote possibility as school closure to inordinately > influence future decision making would be totally unacceptable.
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> To be sure, in the foreseeable future, additional sacrifices will > be asked of every individual associated with SIU but we will meet > our challenges and be a stronger and more excellent university > because of it.
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> Sincerely,
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> Glenn Poshard
> President
> Southern Illinois University
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