The administration has created a hostile environment on the SIUC campus, including censoring students, faculty, and alumni, restricting free speech, and attempting to punish faculty and students for exercising their right to strike and to practice free speech. It is our position that the best interests of the university would be better represented by other individuals and that the situation they have created is untenable. We feel it will be difficult to move forward in a positive direction as long as they remain in office.

The administration's public comments before, during, and after the recent events on campus left many undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty members, feeling disrespected and disappointed. The chancellor specifically referred to our talented and intelligent students as "unwilling pawns," while warning teachers not to "use" them. Many undergraduate students feel that they have been treated as customers rather than students and that the administration has prioritized fiscal responsibility over encouraging the mission of SIUC.

In the days leading up to the strike, the administration censored comments from concerned students, student family members, faculty, and alumni on the SIUC facebook page. Comments were deleted if the sentiment expressed in them was in any way not supportive of the administration's agenda.

The administration's refusal to listen, drive to censor, and blatant disrespect for the student body has affected the campus in such a way that the administration can no longer effectively provide the leadership necessary. For these reasons, we ask the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees to remove Chancellor Cheng and President Poshard from office so that we can continue to make Southern Illinois University a great place to work and study.