Board of Trustees Meeting Jan 25

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wiu712
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A special meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25 in the University Union Grand Ballroom.

A closed session will begin at 9 a.m. in the University Union Board Room.

The Board is meeting to consider a staff reduction authorization, which was postponed at its Dec. 18, 2015 meeting. The Board, at the request of President Jack Thomas, postponed the staff reduction authorization resolution until a special Board of Trustees meeting.
wiu712
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From the "Western Courier":

In a 5-1-1 vote this morning, the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees (BOT) is in favor of the execution of staff reductions.

According to resolution No. 16.1/1, reduced enrollment is partially responsible for the staff reduction. "Western Illinois University seeks to implement staff reduction as outlined in Article 24, Article 40 and all additional articles referenced therein," reads a clause on the resolution.

The BOT has officially given the administration authorization to layoff where necessary.

Also present at the meeting is a group of protesters, armed with signs depicting outrage over the layoffs.
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sealhall74
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Was the voting secret? Who was the naysayer? Regarding BOT, I am a little disappointed Governor screwed up yet again by putting another Macombite on the BOT. Where is the Chicago area representation - that's where probably 90+% of the students are coming from. Way too heavy QC and Macomb area representation IMHO. SMH
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wiu51
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I disagree. I think the board should have more Macomb/QC residents on it since that's where the school is located.
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sealhall74
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wiu51 wrote:I disagree. I think the board should have more Macomb/QC residents on it since that's where the school is located.
I respectfully disagree. The primary purpose of educational institutions is not to keep faculty employed or local Walmarts in business.
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Tere North
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3 comments.

1) Rather than location concerns, how about a person on the Board who actually understands higher ed rather than an having business owners, VP/CEO's etc.?

2) What was accomplished by the delay? All the talk from the Union was that faculty shouldn't have to be part of the $ shortage, despite the obvious that fewer students should need fewer faculty.

3) I'm actually glad to see some discontent on the Board. I alway wonder about unanimous votes. Come on, could 8 people even agree on what the weather is outside :mrgreen:
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ST_Lawson
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sealhall74 wrote:Was the voting secret? Who was the naysayer? Regarding BOT, I am a little disappointed Governor screwed up yet again by putting another Macombite on the BOT. Where is the Chicago area representation - that's where probably 90+% of the students are coming from. Way too heavy QC and Macomb area representation IMHO. SMH
No, voting wasn't secret. The "nay" vote was from Phil Hare (http://www.wiu.edu/board_of_trustees/hare.php) and apparently he was pretty seriously pissed off about it.
The student representative also voted no, but that's largely symbolic because legally, in certain instances (like this) the student rep vote doesn't count.
The newest addition to the BOT, Todd Lester, did not vote (too new, too unfamiliar with all the intricacies of the situation).

From what I've heard, the university came to the union and offered to take all tenured faculty off the "layoffs list" in exchange for giving up the 1% pay raise for this year. The union came back and said they'd do that, but only if the university would guarantee that they would get the 1% pay increase in 2017. The university couldn't do that because...well...we don't know how much $ we're getting from the state this year, there's no way they can promise salary increases for next year at this point.

I've also heard rumors about other universities in the state and what options they are exploring at this time, but I won't really get into it here.
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leatherface
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Faculty shouldn't be part of the $ shortage? What planet do these people live on? Typical labor union BS. I've worked at three colleges, and while there is always a small cadre of faculty who you can depend on for extra involvement without being paid for every professional duty outside of the classroom etc, most I have seen over the years are coddled, and have a feeling of entitlement.

These people should experience what elementary and secondary teachers do five days a week, with added discipline problems. Western isn't a research school. Many if not most experienced elementary or secondary school teachers have Master's, so any perception they aren't well schooled would be silly.Maybe it's time some of these folks found out what a real job in their area of knowledge is actually all about. If you ever want to see an instructor start to stutter, it's when someone who is actually doing the job they talk about shares what is really going on.
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sealhall74
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I know I am far-removed from goings-on in Macomb but it is my alma mater so I feel I can chime in. Honestly, I am far less concerned about faculty layoffs than I am about keeping the really good instructors on board. I would think that even if you are not on the layoff list, you are going to shopping yourself around pretty heavily during these tough budget times. Without a doubt, a student's impression of a university is shaped mostly by his/her classroom experiences. I remember a math prof or two back in the day who struggled with the English language but I put up with them. Today's generation may be less tolerant than I was.
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WIU0812
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From a business perspective this makes complete and total sense. If you were creating a product and then slowly demand for your product declined and after years of declines you said "well I feel bad and do not want to lay off any of my workers so I will continue to still pay them same with raises and just have them do less and less"(teach less and less students per teacher) you would go bankrupt in no time having to many workers for the downsized workload. Layoffs happen all the time in the private world where if you product or service is not in demand and you are not making money you have to let a few people go. Obviously you try to keep your best help, but the reality of it is that if there is no demand(students) then there is not need to have the extra supply(teachers). I am sure there is good people losing jobs and I hope they find new ones else where, hopefully better ones, but the school is shrinking and has been for years so it is time to really evaluate our optimum faculty size and student needs for the next decade.

I would love to hear the argument from the guy who did vote no, just would like to see what his points were. Hopefully his arguments were not about construction projects or things of that nature since none of that money can be used for faculty wages in my understanding. Most comes from programs through the state meant for upgrades to universities and the rest from student fees devoted to different items to improve their life on campus. That would be like donating to your town and them saying it was going to a new local library and instead just hiring a few extra helpers in city hall with the money meant for public's use.
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