Dear Editor,

As most of your readers know the Faculty Association (union) is negotiating
its contract with the Board of Trustees. Having been involved in the hiring
process I have seen that the low salaries we offer does hurt our efforts to
attract quality faculty. Low pay and consistent mismanagement has also
contributed to faculty leaving. The campus administration has been cutting 
tenure-track positions while "growing" the bureaucracy. 

I hope that students, alumni and others will express their support for the
faculty association at this time.  This can be done by writing to the BoT
and contacting your state representatives. You can e-mail the BoT through its
Executive Secretary, Sharon Holmes, at sholmes@notes.siu.edu. To look up 
your representatives call 217-782-2000 or, on line go to 
http://congress.nw.dc.us/icjl/.

Of course the problems on our campus extend beyond low faculty salaries. 
Graduate student stipends are shamefully low. Library acquisitions have not 
kept pace. There is no systematic diagnostic testing to identify and place
students in need of remediation. Our computer system lets students ignore
prerequisites. Student workers are often forbidden to study at work even
during slack periods. Worst of all many academic programs have been watered 
down, lowering the value of an SIUC degree. So, I say to my colleagues, the 
struggle for quality education will not end once we get our raise.

Mike Sullivan
Assoc. Prof.
Math SIUC