Had the opportunity to attend Glenn Poshard's presentation to the Chamber of Commerce on the status of SIUC. It's not good. I will post details later but the general gist is that the university has taken hits from all sides in terms of customers, competition, and funding. One thing I found particularly interesting was Poshard's last slide which looked at what the city could do to increase attendance. His two points were safety and beautification. He believes that high schools and universities in other areas that the school could recruit from still view SIUC as a party school and parents may view the city as unsafe. Neighborhood Scout certainly thinks so.
Apparently Poshard's beautification rap on the city comes from his perception of Hwy 13 east of the city as littered and trashy, not presenting a good image for parents and their children entering the city from that direction, which most do. That's the first I time I have heard anyone comment on excessive litter on the east side of town. From his speech, I gather Poshard wants civic minded citizens to spend time on Hwy 13 east cleaning up the roadside.
Apparently Poshard's beautification rap on the city comes from his perception of Hwy 13 east of the city as littered and trashy, not presenting a good image for parents and their children entering the city from that direction, which most do. That's the first I time I have heard anyone comment on excessive litter on the east side of town. From his speech, I gather Poshard wants civic minded citizens to spend time on Hwy 13 east cleaning up the roadside.
