South West Illinois News

Southern Illinois University (SIU) no longer pays its commencement speakers, but between 2012 and 2014 it forked out $118,000 plus expenses for the talks, the university said recently.

The disclosure follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for SIU’s commencement speaker spending following a controversy surrounding Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU).

According to the Chicago Sun Times, financial constraints triggered by Illinois’ ongoing budget crisis led NEIU to take several cost-cutting measures, like reducing the school year by three days and forcing all of its employees to take a week of unpaid leave during spring break. But the school also had planned to pay $30,000 to former Obama Administration adviser Valerie Jarrett to speak at this year’s May commencement ceremony.

After a public outcry, Jarrett returned most of the fee, which NEIU had already paid, although she kept $1,500 to cover travel expenses. NEIU revealed that it paid five-figure fees to its commencement speakers for the past four years, even as the state provided limited funding due to stopgap budget measures and the school’s credit rating was downgraded to junk bond status.

In contrast, SIU, which paid similarly large sums in 2012, 2013 and 2014, has since reduced its spending to covering expenses for some speakers, at most.

In 2012, retired astronaut Mark Kelly earned $48,000 in fees plus expenses for speaking at three ceremonies. He was the highest-paid speaker at SIU in the past five years. Frank Abagnale Jr., a security consultant whose story was the inspiration for the film Catch Me if You Can, was paid $30,000 plus expenses for speaking at three ceremonies in May 2013, and actress and comedian Ali Wentworth was paid $40,000 plus expenses for speaking at May 2014’s three ceremonies.

From 2012 to 2014, all three speakers at the December commencement ceremonies – Marcia Bullard, James Rosser and Donald McHenry – were reimbursed only for their expenses.

In 2015, as the state’s budget crisis began in earnest, SIU tightened its budget for commencement speakers. December 2015 speaker Jak Tichenor received no payment, while December 2016 speaker Howard Peters III was compensated only for his expenses.

The school had three speakers for its three May 2015 ceremonies. Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar and aviator and SIU board member and alumnus William Norwood had their expenses paid, while current Gov. Bruce Rauner received no payment.

Former astronaut and SIU alumna Joan Higginbotham had her expenses paid for speaking at two of the three ceremonies in May 2016, as did SIU alumnus and former Chancellor Donald Beggs, who spoke at the third ceremony.

While SIU has significantly reduced its spending on commencement speakers, its previous spending outstripped that of NEIU, whose $30,000 fee to Jarrett would have doubled the amount paid to any other speaker. Between May 2013 and May 2016, NEIU paid four speakers at a total of $45,850, according to the Chicago Sun-Times report, while SIU, despite only paying fees for two speakers in that time, spent $70,000.

In its response to an FOIA request, SIU noted that its School of Law also holds commencement ceremonies with its own speakers. From 2012 to 2015, those speakers – Sheila Simon, Judge James Wexstten, former U.S. Rep. William Enyart and Judge Nancy Rosenstengel – did not receive any payments. Last year, the School of Law covered expenses for its speaker, Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx.

SIU had not announced its commencement speakers for this year's ceremonies as of press time.