Southern Illinois board sets meeting on removing president

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Southern Illinois University's Board of Trustees has set a special meeting to consider placing the school president on administrative leave after a dispute over a failed move to shift about $5 million in state funding between its campuses.

The board members are scheduled to meet Thursday in Edwardsville about the future of President Randy Dunn. The board's agenda includes consideration of appointing an acting president.

The meeting comes two weeks after the board's vice chairman and secretary tried to take action against Dunn. But the chairwoman objected, calling the attempt a "power play."

Three state lawmakers called for Dunn's resignation last month after release of an internal email in which Dunn used an expletive to describe opponents of shifting money from SIU's Carbondale campus to its growing Edwardsville campus.