Following the announcement Wednesday by SIU Board Trustees J. Phil Gilbert and Joel Sambursky to call an emergency meeting of the Board’s executive committee to oust President Randy Dunn and appoint an unnamed replacement, Board Chair Amy Sholar declared the executive committee does not have any such authority given the circumstances.

Sholar says she’s reviewed the Bylaws for the SIU Board of Trustees and she’s not convinced that under current circumstances, the executive committee has the authority to remove President Dunn or appoint anyone as a replacement.

She added that she doesn’t believe the matter is so urgent that an executive committee meeting is permissible for the purposes stated by those trustees, or that the executive committee has the authority to remove President Dunn and effectively undo an action previously taken by the full Board in hiring him.

As the Chair, she says she has the authority to interpret and apply the bylaws between meetings, and it’s her decision that the executive committee cannot meet for the purposes stated in the call for the meeting for the given reasons.