Board of Trustees

Section 1. The Board

The Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible to the people of the State of Illinois for the welfare, activities, and development of Southern Illinois University. The Board shall adopt policies that enable Southern Illinois University to formulate and carry out its mission in a manner consonant with the best interests of the people of the State of Illinois. The relationships between the Board and the president shall be such that having once been selected by the Board, the president functions with full autonomy in all spheres excepting those reserved to the Board. The Board:

1. approves and supports a mission and scope for the university and for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville;
2. appoints a president for the university;
3. appoints, upon the recommendation of the president, chancellors for SIUC and SIUE;
4. sets policy for the general operation of the university, including, but not limited to, custody, obligation, and expenditure of funds;
5. approves new programs and substantial changes in existing programs;
6. deals with land holdings;
7. awards major contracts and approves employment contracts;
8. serves as final recourse for internal grievances;
9. approves major alterations of internal organization, academic programs, capital facilities, and personnel policies;
10. encourages coordination of all elements of the university;
11. involves itself in any matter which is of exceptional public concern;
12. conducts an annual evaluation of the president based upon a previously established statement of goals and objectives formulated by the president and agreed upon by the Board;
13. reviews with the president his annual evaluation of the chancellors.

Section 2. The President of Southern Illinois University

The President of Southern Illinois University is the chief executive officer of the university and exercises such powers as are necessary for the governance and function of the university. The president is empowered to execute all documents and exercise all powers necessary to the discharge of that office. The president serves as the primary link between the Board’s responsibilities for policy and the chancellors’ responsibilities for operations. The president reports directly and only to the Board of Trustees and is responsible to the Board for the effective administration of the university. The president:

1. provides overall leadership for the university;
2. proposes to the Board, and enunciates on its behalf, the mission and scope of the university and of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville;
3. proposes to the Board goals, policies, and actions which serve the best interests of the university and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and promulgates guidelines and regulations for the consistent interpretation and application of Board policies;
4. administers the academic, financial, and other functions of the university in a manner which assures institutional autonomy of SIUC and SIUE;
5. recommends to the Board, after appropriate consultation with and involvement of the universities’ constituencies, the appointment and terms and conditions of employment of the chancellors;
6. directs the activities of the university chancellors in a manner which promotes the general welfare of the System and the university and insures institutional autonomy;
7. serves as the chief spokesperson for the university in external relations;
8. recommends to the Board all major alterations of internal administrative organization, academic programs, capital facilities, and personnel and other policies;
9. develops and recommends to the Board an annual budget request and an annual operating budget;
10. evaluates the performance of the chancellors based on annual performance goals jointly established by the president and the chancellors;
11. establishes procedures guiding the annual preparation of fund raising goals and priorities for the university;
12. cooperates with the university foundations in carrying out the annual fund raising activities.
     
    (3/24/16, 3/28/19)

Section 3. Chancellors

The chancellors are the chief executive officers of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and report directly to the president and through that officer to the Board of Trustees. The chancellors are empowered to execute all documents and exercise all powers necessary to discharge their duties. The chancellors are responsible to the president and through that officer to the Board for the effective discharge of their responsibilities, including but not limited to the following:

1. assist in formulating policies for adoption by the Board of Trustees;
2. carry out approved policies, guidelines, and regulations governing the management of academic, business, and student affairs, delegating execution to administrative aides and heads of appropriate functional areas;
3. develop and recommend to the president a mission and focus statement for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale or Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville;
4. develop and recommend budgets to the president and control the allocation of expenditures for SIUC or SIUE within the framework of budgets approved by the president and the Board;
5. assume primary responsibility for the internal organization of SIUC or SIUE administration, including academic, business, and student affairs, and the development and management of the physical plant and auxiliary services;
6. provides necessary leadership in educational development, such leadership to be consistent with appropriate internal delegation of policy responsibility to the faculty and other constituencies, with encouragement and advice from these groups wherever delegation is not appropriate;
7. appoint all academic and nonacademic employees within the limitation of powers delegated by the Board of Trustees and the president;
8. inform the president of all matters important to operation, management, control, and maintenance;
9. at the direction of the president, represent SIUC or SIUE in its relationship to external agencies in local, state, and federal government;
10. assume primary responsibility for the external relations activities of fund raising and alumni relations.
    (3/24/16, 3/28/19, 7/18/19, 9/12/19, 04/28/22)

Section 4. Searches for a President, or a Chancellor
  

1. Searches for a President 
   The Board will appoint the president. In arriving at their decision, an appropriate search procedure will be developed and specified, which will involve the appropriate constituencies of the university community.
2. Searches for a Chancellor 
   The president will be primarily responsible for those activities which lead to the Board’s appointment of the chancellors.
   1. The Board shall appoint the chancellors upon recommendation of the president. The president shall, in arriving at a recommendation, develop and publicize an appropriate search procedure which will involve the appropriate constituencies of the university community.
   2. The president will recommend to the Board the terms and conditions of employment of the chancellors.
   The appointment of individuals to serve in the position of president or chancellor is final only upon action by the Board of Trustees. Throughout the search process and consistent with its goals, efforts will be made to insure that the process is both timely and cost effective.
   
   (3/24/16, 3/28/19)

Section 5. Evaluation of the President and the Chancellors

It is the policy of the Board of Trustees that the performance of the president and the chancellors be individually evaluated on an annual basis. These evaluations provide 1) a means by which the incumbents may review their own performances; 2) a procedure to establish new, short- and long-term position-based performance goals for the ensuing months and years; and 3) an opportunity to receive comments and ideas as to possible ways in which the management and planning functions of Southern Illinois University and SIUC and SIUE might be improved. These annual evaluations of the president and chancellors shall be posted on the University's website in accordance with the Southern Illinois University Management Act. (3/28/19)

Section 6. Executive Officer Compensation

1. The Board shall establish annually the compensation for the president.
2. The Board, after receiving the recommendation of the president, shall establish the annual compensation for the chancellors.
3. It is inherent in the positions of president and chancellor that they be conveniently available at any hour and that official, ceremonial, and social functions will often be performed at their homes. It is therefore for the convenience of the Board that such officers occupy homes which are adequate for such functions and conveniently located. Each of these officers should have a motor vehicle available at all times, and it shall therefore be the policy of the Board to provide the same to the aforesaid executive officers, in whole or in part and in kind or by cash allowance as may be appropriate in the individual case. Such arrangements shall be proposed by the president through the Finance Committee for each chancellor, and for the president shall originate in the Finance Committee with the assistance of the Board Treasurer. Cash allowances are subject to approval by the full Board. The operation, maintenance, and improvement of housing provided in kind shall be reviewed and approved by the Architecture and Design Committee as it shall direct.
   
   (3/24/16, 3/28/19)

Section 1. Definition

The term educational organization refers to the units and organizations of the university immediately engaged in performing educational functions and to the various bodies directly associated with the conduct of these activities.

Section 2. The Addition and Abolition of Educational Units

Within the framework of Southern Illinois University, action upon faculty and administrative proposals for the establishment, allocation, and abolition of colleges, schools, divisions, departments, bureaus, and of other educational units, and of curricula and degrees is a function of the Board of Trustees, except as authority for action on such proposals is expressly delegated to the president.

1. Membership. The university faculty at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville shall consist of the chancellor, all professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, and those instructors on continuing appointment.
2. Officers
   
   
   1. The Presiding Officer: The presiding officer of each faculty shall be the chancellor of the campus or the chancellor’s designated representative. 
   2. The Secretary
      
      
      1. Appointment: The secretary of each faculty shall be appointed or reappointed annually from the faculty by the chancellors after consultation with appropriate constituency bodies.
      2. Duties. The secretary shall notify faculty members of the time and place of the annual and special faculty meetings, prepare agenda therefor, and prepare minutes of the meetings.
3. Responsibilities
   
   1. Each faculty is the agency designated by the Board of Trustees to formulate policies concerning the educational functions of SIUC or SIUE, subject to the approval of the appropriate chancellor.
   2. Each faculty shall determine, in line with general policy and subject to the approval of the appropriate chancellor, the manner of faculty representation regarding the formulation of policies concerning the educational functions of SIUC or SIUE.
        
      (3/24/16, 3/28/19)

1. Definition
   
   
   1. The undergraduate work of SIUC and SIUE is carried on by units covering broadly similar academic interests and subject matter.
2. Officers
   
   
   1. Each college, division, or school shall be administered by a dean, head, or director who shall be responsible to the chief officer for academic affairs or that officer’s designated representative except for the deans of the first-professional schools at SIUE, which shall be the chief academic officer of their units. The dean, head, or director shall exercise general responsibility and supervision with respect to the educational policies of the unit.
   2. The dean, head, or director shall advise and approve courses of study for students within the unit.
3. Faculties of Colleges, Divisions, and Schools
   
   1. Membership: The faculty of each college, division, or school shall consist of professors, associate professors, assistant professors, those instructors on continuing appointment, and such other members of the academic staff as that faculty itself shall determine.
   2. Powers and Duties: Except as limited by legislation of the Board of Trustees, each such faculty shall have power to set up its own organization and to determine such matters as times of meetings, quorum for the conduct of its business, rules of procedure, and order of business.
      
      Each college, division, or school faculty shall have original jurisdiction in all educational and academic disciplinary matters within the scope of the purposes of the college, division, or school, including the determination of its curricula and of admission thereto and graduation therefrom, except as authority is otherwise assigned by legislation of the Board of Trustees or as its autonomy is limited by correct academic and administrative relations with other units of SIUC or SIUE. Questions of autonomy and jurisdiction as between such a faculty and the campus’ faculty or between two such faculties shall be adjudicated by the chief officer for academic affairs or that officer’s designated representative for all academic units except for the first-professional schools at SIUE, which shall adjudicate questions of autonomy and jurisdiction in conjuction with the chief academic officer of the campus. The college, school, or division faculty through the Chancellor of SIUC or SIUE shall recommend candidates for degrees in course to the Board of Trustees.
   3. Faculties of Subdivisions of Colleges, Divisions, or Schools: In some cases the education work of SIUC and SIUE is better served by subdividing the college, division, or school into units of greater homogeneity of purpose, such as departments and faculties in specific disciplines.
   4. Joint Faculties: In some cases the educational work of SIUC and SIUE is better served by somewhat formalized joint action by all or parts of one or more colleges, divisions, or schools. The authority to establish or disestablish such joint operations and faculties is vested in the chancellor where only one campus is involved and the president where both campuses are involved.
       
      (3/24/16, 3/28/19)

Section 5. The Graduate Schools and Faculty

1. There shall be at SIUC and SIUE a Graduate School which shall be the agency for organizing and supervising all graduate work and for facilitating the research program. Each Graduate School shall be administered by a dean.
2. The policies governing appointments to and retention on each graduate faculty shall be determined by that faculty as a continuing body. Ex-officio members of each graduate faculty include the chancellor and the chief administrative officers for academic affairs, colleges, schools, and the library.
3. Each graduate faculty is empowered to determine academic policy on all matters having to do with the respective graduate program, except as its authority is otherwise assigned by legislation of the Board of Trustees, or as its autonomy is limited by correct academic and administrative relations with other units of the campus.
4. Each graduate faculty shall determine, in line with general policy and subject to the approval of the appropriate chancellor, the manner of graduate faculty representation regarding matters of academic policy related to the respective graduate programs.

Section 1. Southern Illinois University shall operate under the following principles of academic freedom and responsibility.

The purpose of this statement is to promote public understanding and support of academic freedom and tenure and agreement upon procedures to assure them in colleges and universities. Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher(1) or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition.

Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.

1. Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic duties; but research for pecuniary return should be based upon an understanding with the authorities of the institution.
2. Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subjects. Limitations of academic freedom because of religious or other aims of the institution should be clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.
3. College or university teachers are citizens, members of a learned profession, and officers of educational institutions. When they speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As persons of learning and educational officers, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institutions by their utterances. Hence they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinion of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not institutional spokesmen.(2)

(1) The word "teacher" as used in this document is understood to include the investigator who is attached to an academic institution without teaching duties.

(2) Paraphrased from the "Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors," Spring Quarter, 1950, pages 45 to 49.

Section 2. In discussing controversial matters in the classroom teachers should proceed in a fair and scholarly manner.

1. Professors, guided by a deep conviction of the worth and dignity of the advancement of knowledge, recognize the special responsibilities placed upon them. Their primary responsibility to their subject is to seek and to state the truth as they see it. To this end they devote their energies to developing and improving scholarly competence. They accept the obligation to exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge. They practice intellectual honesty. Although they may follow subsidiary interests, these interests must never seriously hamper or compromise freedom of inquiry.
2. As teachers, professors encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students. They hold before them the best scholarly standards for their discipline. They demonstrate respect for students as individuals, and adhere to their proper role as intellectual guide and counselor. They make every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct and to assure that the evaluation of students reflects their true merit. They respect the confidential nature of the relationship between professor and student. They avoid any exploitation of students for their private advantage and acknowledge significant assistance from them. They protect students’ academic freedom.
3. As colleagues, professors have obligations that derive from common membership in the community of scholars. They respect and defend the free inquiry of associates. In the exchange of criticism and ideas they show due respect for the opinion of others. They acknowledge academic debts and strive to be objective in the professional judgment of colleagues. They accept their share of faculty responsibilities for the governance of the institution.
4. As members of their institution, professors seek above all to be effective teachers and scholars. Although they observe the stated regulations of the institution, provided they do not contravene academic freedom, they maintain the right to criticize and seek revision. Professors determine the amount and character of the work they do outside the institution with due regard to their paramount responsibilities within it. When considering the interruption or termination of service, professors recognize the effect of their decision upon the program of the institution and give due notice of their intentions.
5. As members of a community, professors have the rights and obligations of citizens. They measure the urgency of these obligations in the light of their responsibilities to their subject, to their students, to their profession, and to their institution. When they speak or act as private persons, they avoid creating the impression that they speak or act for their college or university. As citizens engaged in a profession that depends upon freedom for its health and integrity, professors have a particular obligation to promote conditions of free inquiry and to further public understanding of academic freedom.(3)

(3) Paraphrase of a document approved at the Fifty-second Annual Meeting and published in AAUP Bulletin, 55(1969): 86-87.

Section 3. Membership in the academic community.

1. Membership in the academic community imposes on students, faculty members, administrators, and trustees an obligation to respect the dignity of others, to acknowledge their right to express differing opinions, and to foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, and free expression on and off the campus. The expression of dissent and the attempt to produce change, therefore, may not be carried out in ways which injure individuals or damage institutional facilities or disrupt the classes of teachers or colleagues. Speakers on campus must not only be protected from violence, but given an opportunity to be heard. Those who seek to call attention to grievances must not do so in ways that significantly impede the functions of the institution.
2. Students are entitled to an atmosphere conducive to learning and to even-handed treatment in all aspects of the teacher-student relationship. Faculty members may not refuse to enroll or teach students on the grounds of their beliefs or the possible uses to which they may put the knowledge to be gained in a course. Students should not be forced by the authority inherent in the instructional role to make particular personal choices as to political action or their own part in society. Evaluation of students and the award of credit must be based on academic performance professionally judged and not on matters irrelevant to that performance, whether personality, race, religion, degree of political activism, gender, or personal beliefs.
3. It is the teachers’ mastery of their subject and their own scholarship which entitle them to the classroom and to freedom in the presentation of their subject. Thus, it is improper for instructors persistently to intrude materials which have no relation to the subject matter of the course as announced to their students and as approved by the faculty in their collective responsibility for the curriculum.
4. Because academic freedom has traditionally included the instructors’ full freedom as citizens, most faculty members face no insoluble conflicts between the claims of politics, social action, and conscience, on the one hand, and the claims and expectations of their students, colleagues, and institutions, on the other. If such conflicts become acute, and the instructors’ attention to their obligations as citizens and moral agents precludes the fulfillment of substantial academic obligations, they cannot escape the responsibility of that choice, but should either request a leave of absence or resign their academic position.(4)

(4) Paraphrased excerpt from a statement approved unanimously by the Council of the AAUP, Washington, D.C., October 31, 1970.

Article VII: Policy on Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action and Values Statement

1. In accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois and the United States, the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and is committed to taking affirmative steps aimed at overcoming historical patterns of discrimination in our society. The Board of Trustees directs that all elements of Southern Illinois University adhere to procedures which promote this policy in all phases of university activities including employment, educational programs, choice of contractors, and relationships with employee organizations.

2. Values Statement. The Southern Illinois University (SIU) System is an anti-racist community that opposes racism, discrimination and inequity in any form, and embraces diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice for all people.

(12/03/20)