Our university sits in a most unique position because we have a long history of accepting and promoting diversity in our system. I don't want us to lose that mission, because that's our roots, our history.

I couldn't be more ready to get going.

We think it's short-sighted to let this go. We are so oil dependent, we are never going to get out of this unless we take some risk ... to produce ethanol.

We will comply with the consent decree because it is the legal thing to do. We will increase the participation of women, African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics in our graduate assistance programs because it is the right thing to do.

We have always felt that the fellowships in question were but a small part of an overall graduate program that provides opportunities for thousands of our students, from every imaginable cultural background, to pursue graduate degrees while working at Southern Illinois University.

I know many minority groups in the past have had promises made and promises broken. I understand that. But we're not going to break our promise.