Page 4 of 5

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:06 pm
by sealhall74
Neckfansince71 wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:58 am This is hardly a surprise and probably should have been done last year. I think housing freshmen by themselves is a bad idea anyway. Tanner and BayHen will basically be put in moth balls until enrollment increases deem that they be reopened. ;) jc
Here is a question for insiders. Are floor RAs privy to the GPAs and current semester grade standing/status/class attendance/etc. of the people on their floor? If not, they probably should be IMHO. That way they can maybe just maybe help a struggling kid before it becomes too late.

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:47 pm
by wiu712
Wonder if the cafeteria at Lincoln-Washington-Grote will be re-opened ???

Isolating all of the freshmen at the North Quad dorms seems like a bad idea to begin with. And that error is compounded by the very limited food service that is offered there.

The Bayliss-Henninger cafeteria is only open for Dinner (5PM-7PM), Sunday through Thursday.

That means that there is no breakfast and no lunch, and no dinner on Friday & Saturdays.

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:14 pm
by Neckfansince71
Woaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! 712 we are for once on the same page! Putting freshmen by themselves in the north quad does not sound like a good idea to me either! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) ;) jc

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:00 pm
by wiu712
Western eliminates North Quad.
From the Western Courier:
https://westerncourier.com/43165/news/w ... orth-quad/

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:19 pm
by Western_101
Wow never would have seen it this bad 22 years after I left Macomb. I just feel sad about it. I want to blame different people and a lack of State funding but, that really doesn't do anything to solve the situation. So if College has become un-affordable for many they opt out, those with means might see Western lacking a signature identity and perhaps lacking the creature comforts of home. If said student is from a more Metropolitan area.

Western has lost their Identity. Who or what are we really? What do we do to stand out?

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:42 pm
by Tere North
Therein lies the problem.
RedNeck wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:19 pm Western has lost their Identity. Who or what are we really? What do we do to stand out?

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:46 pm
by ST_Lawson
RedNeck wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:19 pm Wow never would have seen it this bad 22 years after I left Macomb. I just feel sad about it. I want to blame different people and a lack of State funding but, that really doesn't do anything to solve the situation. So if College has become un-affordable for many they opt out, those with means might see Western lacking a signature identity and perhaps lacking the creature comforts of home. If said student is from a more Metropolitan area.

Western has lost their Identity. Who or what are we really? What do we do to stand out?
I'm not saying that some of that isn't also a problem, but I think the biggest issues right now are:
State funding - hopefully will start to be fixed fairly soon (I said start...this is going to take a while to dig out of)...just a general "uneasiness" of the stability of Illinois universities.
Smaller class sizes - we're in a wave of smaller numbers of kids going through school in general (like...at the K-12 level) so there's fewer students going to all colleges. There are a few universities doing fine, but there's a lot fewer college students across the country right now just because there's a lot fewer college-aged kids across the country. This should pick back up, but it might take a decade for the numbers to pick up on this front.
I have heard that recruiting is looking decent for fall. Not "up", but more "holding steady". Still way early to be making any projections as to what the fall numbers might be though.

We do need to figure out some of what you're talking about too. Need to figure out who we are and focus on doing those things well, while still offering a well-rounded education.

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:05 am
by Neckfansince71
With no budget, let me say that again, no budget for 2 years, Western was in "survival mode!" I think JBPrizker is going to help this situation, but then we need to focus on who and what WIU is and is to become. ;) jc

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:13 am
by rocki
Neckfansince71 wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:05 am With no budget, let me say that again, no budget for 2 years, Western was in "survival mode!" I think JBPrizker is going to help this situation, but then we need to focus on who and what WIU is and is to become. ;) jc
IF we get a budget now, will it even be balanced? I don't see how anything is going to change, honestly. To do everything JB says he is going to do is not possible without gouging us for more taxes, and things are so bad there already we are bleeding population like nobody's business.

Face it, a lot of us remembering the glory days of Western are thinking about the time the baby boomers hit college age - kids born between 1946 and 1964 - and there were a ton of us. There just aren't that many kids around anymore. Families have gone from 3, 4, or more kids down to 1 or 2 (for the most part). Let's at least be reasonable about what we can expect to happen.

Re: Another dorm getting shut down

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:52 am
by ST_Lawson
rocki wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:13 am Face it, a lot of us remembering the glory days of Western are thinking about the time the baby boomers hit college age - kids born between 1946 and 1964 - and there were a ton of us. There just aren't that many kids around anymore. Families have gone from 3, 4, or more kids down to 1 or 2 (for the most part). Let's at least be reasonable about what we can expect to happen.
That was really a perfect storm of a situation. You had a much larger generation of kids (millennials were actually just a bit bigger than baby boomers), but then you also had the situation with the draft and stuff. On one side of things, you had a lot of young veterans returning from service (whether in Vietnam or wherever) taking advantage of the GI bill to go to college inexpensively, but then you also had a number of people going to college specifically to avoid the draft. So, you had a large generation and multiple reasons/paths to attend college.

Compare that to today...millennials were around the same size as baby boomers, but there was no incentive in terms of avoiding a draft. I know that people are still taking advantage of the GI bill, but we didn't have the huge wars like Vietnam that utilized the draft. Plus, there's many more options for learning now that aren't the traditional "go live on a regular college campus for 4ish years". Online options for degrees, certifications, and other training have made it possible for people to get much of what they're wanting out of an education without having to go the traditional route. Many still do, and obviously there's a big difference in what you learn if you just take some classes online as opposed to living with a diverse group of people for multiple years and going to classes that don't directly apply to your major/area of focus, but if someone just wants to learn a specific skill for a job or whatever, they have other ways of doing that.

My view is that we're likely never going to get back to where we were enrollment-wise (unless we strongly grow online offerings and get most of those students through that...like a Southern New Hampshire University, for example), but I think something in the 9-10k range is feasible (and sustainable) if we can get an adequate level of funding and quality leadership for at least a couple of years.