Photo courtesy of Bakerita

SIU gains new system vice president

NICOLE BOYD

copy editor

The role of SIU System Vice President for Academic Innovation, Planning and Partnerships has expanded since Gireesh Gupchup assumed the position over the summer, on July 9.

SIU System President Dan Mahony said one of Gupchup’s primary responsibilities will be to develop a system-wide strategic plan.

“He’ll step in and really take a lead role in helping us move from where we are today to having a system-wide strategic plan done by the end of the fall semester,” Mahony said.

Mahony said Gupchup will also be tasked with finding new opportunities for the SIU system, which was not asked of former vice presidents.

“We’re also asking the vice president to do more to find new opportunities for the system, including outreach to potential system partners, and that still involves working with the campuses, so he’ll have to be collaborative,” Mahony said.

Many events throughout the summer have placed race relations at the forefront of many Americans’ minds. Here’s what the SIUE community is doing on and off campus to create change: New diversity and inclusion position added

One such change was creating the position of Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. Courtney Boddie, who also serves as director of Counseling Services, stepped into this role on July 27. Boddie said his new role is to make sure the university is actively committed to being anti-racist, and taking steps to combat institutionalized racism.

“I would say that for an institution to be anti-racist is a profound task and amazingly difficult,” Boddie said. “The efforts so far have all the potential to create an institution that is more welcoming, and appropriate for a diverse range of students and faculty alike.”

Campus organizations

There are many organizations on campus that, according to Boddie, share that common goal. On June 12, SIU System President Dan Mahony created the Anti-Racism Task Force. The group was created through conversations between Mahony, Interim Assistant Provost for Academic Equity and Inclusive Excellence Jessica Harris and Director of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion Lindy Wagner. An email was sent to the SIUE community, explaining the plans for the task force.

“We have heard the pain and frustration among our students, staff and faculty. Emails and town halls will not be enough. Action and urgency are essential,” the email said.

The task force plans on working with established groups on campus— like the University Diversity Council— and on its own to achieve change. Boddie is a member of both of these groups, and he said they are both helping SIUE move toward change, but there has also been help from Mahony. Boddie said Mahony is willing

Jim Allen, former acting vice president of the SIU system, said the job’s emphasis will be less on academic affairs and more on finding other ways of supporting the campuses, since the campuses are equipped to make their own decisions about academic affairs.

“Much of the work that this office is doing could actually be assumed a bit more by the campuses, freeing up someone to do other work like planning and partnerships,” Allen said.

Gupchup said he plans to share more information with Academic Affairs and between campuses in the hope of promoting “systemness,” or a sense of SIUE and SIUC being interconnected. Some of this sense of system unity has been missing in recent years due to tensions over the system funding allocation.

“If all the campuses can come together and find a common ‘why,’ that’s really what we call ‘systemness.’ You find those commonalities and then you can implement those [and] the common ‘why’ in different ways on different campuses,” Gupchup said. “Because we’re different to enact change, and having such a system president is very helpful.

“To an extent, I was in the creation of [the task force], but it was Dr. Jessica Harris’s idea. Alternatively, the council was around for a while, but it was new to the SIU system. Many of these efforts are aligning now,” Boddie said. “We have a new system president who wants to change things. To have a system president that values the lived experience and climate specifically for Black members of the SIU system is great, especially in my new position. Having worked at a number of institutions, it makes me pleased that that’s how his membership is starting.”

Director of Equal Opportunity, Access and Title IX Coordination Jamie Ball said she also felt administration has made a real effort to enact change. She has been asked to co-chair one of the subcommittees — along with Associate Professor Gertrude Pannirselvam of the School of Business — on the Anti-Racism Task Force.

“[Gertrude Pannirselvam] and I are the co-chairs of the Faculty and Staff Issues subcommittee. So our subcommittee looks at things like retention, promotions, hiring and how the needs of our community intersect with our work towards being anti-racist on campus,” Ball said. “Chancellor Pembrook asked me to co-chair, and I was honored.”

Off-campus activism

SIUE community members are also working toward change off of campus as well, like Assistant Professor Ezra Temko of the Department of Sociology, who has been helping lead a recent movement to relocate a statue Edwardsville’s namesake, Ninian Edwards, and rename the plaza where it resides.

Although he was governor of a free state, Edwards tried to further slavery. Edwards also allowed attacks on Indeginous people while he was governor. A Facebook group dedicated to getting the statue removed states that its members support this cause due to Edwards’ actions against these groups.

“The big thing is we don’t want to put [Edwards] up on a pedestal in the center of town. When you choose to honor and revere a person who sought to further slavery and tried to remove Indigenous people, it sends a message,” Temko said. “We campuses, and that’s the strength of a system, but coming together on the common ‘why,’ you’re going to get a much stronger solution.”

Gupchup served as the dean of the SIUE School of Pharmacy from 2010 to 2018. Gupchup previously served as the school’s first associate dean after it was founded in 2003.

Experience in the School of Pharmacy shaped his vision for the system, as he recalls the entire system coming together to make the pharmacy school successful.

“SIUE helped a great deal, the system helped with the legislative issues, and we got a lot of help from Carbondale with courses. We were able to look at courses at Carbondale where students could take a pre-pharmacy curriculum there. So, the entire system came together to help and that has always stuck with me, that the system has the capability to collaborate,” Gupchup said.

To learn more about Gupchp and the role of Vice President for Academic Innovation, Planning and Partnerships, visit the

“More than not racist, anti-racist”: How the SIUE community has stepped up this summer

GABRIEL BRADY

reporter

SIU system website. don’t want to tear down the statue. We’re looking to relocate it and help acknowledge the terrible history behind Edwards.”

The movement started just this year, but it has gained a large following. According to Temko, there are many members of the SIUE community in the movement, and there is plenty of room for more cooperation in the future.

“Our group’s leader is Asher Denkyirah, a grad student at SIUE in the MBA Program, and there are professors in the history department that are involved, as well as art history professors that specialize in the preservation of monuments,” Temko said. “A lot of the members of SIUE have gotten involved, but I’m looking forward to more formal involvement from groups at SIUE in the future.”

Asher Denkyirah is a graduate student in business administration-management from Glen Carbon, Illinois. Denkyirah said she wouldn’t consider herself to be the leader of the group trying to get the statue removed, but she’s happy to help.

“I stepped in when [the previous leader] stepped down for personal reasons. My position now is to lead the group in ways to be productive and have people run things by me first,” Denkyirah said. “I don’t technically consider myself the leader of the group, just because it’s really been a space for free ideas and such. I’m a graduate student, so I can’t devote my time 100 percent to the movement, but I’m trying to be as involved as possible.”

Working toward a common goal

Although most of these organizations have begun work recently, Boddie said he expects to see more connections form between the groups.

“We all have one common goal, we are all trying to move SIUE towards anti-racism,” Boddie said. “[Administration] seems to be responding to the underlying issues, and looking beyond surface-level change. I think these groups … have the capacity to lead to long range change, especially together.”

For more information on these groups, read the Anti-Racism Task Force’s initial press release, visit the University Diversity Council’s website or the Facebook group devoted to relocating the Ninian Edwards statue.

SIUE’s COVID-19 responses over the summer

June 1: University leaders announced official plans for reopening campus under Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, with campus buildings reopening June 8 and many employees returning by June 15. June 30: SIUE’s “Our Cougar Commitment” plan was released with guidance for the Fall 2020 semester, if Illinois were to remain in Phase 4 of Restore Illinois. The plan includes a mix of in-person and online courses, with most courses ending in-person instruction prior to Thanksgiving Break. July 13: All on-campus events, camps and conferences for external, non-university groups were canceled through the end of 2020. Events sponsored by university groups will still be permitted if they follow state and university guidelines. July 17: University leadership held a Q&A for students and their parents to have their questions about the fall semester answered. Textbook Service announced options for students to acquire their textbooks for the fall semester. July 24: The Office of the Registrar finalized changes to the Fall 2020 course schedule and distributed updated schedules to students.

July 27: SIUE released guidance encouraging students to limit their exposure to others and practice other safety guidelines in the 14 days prior to returning to campus. University Housing also released its 2020-21 Living Guide, with added COVID-19-related guidelines. July 29: Athletics and Health Service announced a student-athlete living in on-campus housing had tested positive for COVID-19. They reported the individual was asymptomatic and isolating, and the Madison County Health Department was identifying all close contacts.

July 30: An “Illness and Exposure” page was added to SIUE’s coronavirus site to provide instructions for those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, those who have tested positive and those who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. Aug. 11: University leadership held a second live webinar, titled “Countdown to Fall 2020,” to present up-to-date information about the return to campus and COVID-19 procedures.