Not too successfully. The State Journal-Register never published this letter, even though the editor said they would. They didn't publish that either. U of I administrators, local state legislators, and now a group of area business executives apparently are determined to declare the 25-year old SSU experiment a failure. Even at SSU, some students, professors, and administrators are jumping on the bandwagon.
Dissenters are mostly quiet, so far.
Yet Springfield residents should consider a few unresolved issues before buying into the developing consensus. To start off with an honest admission, SSU professors clearly have their own jobs at stake. The governor and the legislature have not yet decided what kind of institution Sangamon State will become. Rumor has it that the legislation will leave that kind of petty detail up in the air, to be decided later. It is that detail, however, that will determine whether SSU's teachers will retain their jobs or file for unemployment.