The editorial is the opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News.

Eastern welcomes home President Carol Surles. Eastern has missed President Surles, and, for a while now, the university has needed her back.

Four months out of a school year is quite a chunk of time to be absent for and a lot has happened.

First of all, the Illinois Board of Higher Education recommended the university get the highest increase in state funding, 7 percent. Then Governor Ryan cut $100,000 out of it. Then there is the $2.9 million dollar budget shortfall we expect to hit next year. The university started work on the new food court and it looks like we’re still going to get that $53 million dollars for the shiny new fine arts center.

On a smaller scale, the shuttle bus system turned into a contractual fiasco. The city put in a pedestrian light on Fourth Street and the construction on the chilled water loop next to Lumpkin Hall was completed.

Many things haven’t changed during Surles’ absence though: we still have an excessive amount of acting administrators, including three of the four vice presidents and several of their assistants. In her absence, Lou Hencken, vice president for student affairs, was essentially the only official executive administrator.

However, Eastern’s administration was not too inexperienced because two of the acting vice presidents have been in that capacity for well over a year.

Surles is going to be very busy the next couple of months. Pretty soon she is going to have to choose a new vice president for business affairs and vice president for academic affairs. Another major chore will be to protect our budget from the chaotic politics of the legislature. These extras come along with all the other duties of president that often extend beyond regular working hours.

In all honesty, good things and bad have come about since Surles took over at Eastern. This school needs leadership, the kind of leadership Surles has the experience to provide. Eastern is sick of the infighting between the administration and the teacher’s union. Eastern needs her to bring us together. In order for Surles to accomplish all these things we need her to be in good health and if four months is what she needs than it is a sacrifice the university is glad to have made.

Eastern is happy to have Surles back and it hopes her health stays well.