More than 30 faculty members at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville have signed a petition asking that the institution be made officially separate from the system’s Carbondale campus. The petition, which was addressed to the state’s governor, follows revelations that Glenn Poshard, president of the Southern Illinois system, copied numerous portions of his master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation without properly citing the sources.

But while the plagiarism controversy sparked the petition, there are longstanding issues between the two campuses. Robert Ware, the philosophy professor at Edwardsville who organized the effort, told The Southern Illinoisan that Edwardsville is “being held back” by Carbondale, preventing it from expanding degree programs and campus housing. In 2004 another attempt to separate the two campuses failed.

Last week the Edwardsville Faculty Senate voted, 45 to 5, for a resolution calling for Mr. Poshard’s resignation. —Thomas Bartlett