Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

General Campus News, Updates, Discussion
User avatar
sealhall74
Posts: 5770
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:18 pm
Location: Wherever, Windblows

wiu712 wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:56 am Vice President for Quad Cities and Planning Dr. Joe Rives said on Tuesday that Western "looks perceptually like an institution in chaos...and to not have a strategic plan, I don’t know how many more times I can for lack of better words defend the institution to the Illinois Higher Learning Commission.”

WIU Faculty Senate endorses 10 year strategic plan.
From today's McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/2018 ... tegic-plan
My very first question for Jack in Boise today would be this one: How do you deal with chaos when it suddenly and seemingly pops up out of nowhere?
Embrace the pace of the race.
User avatar
Tere North
Posts: 1146
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:59 pm

sealhall74 wrote: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:25 am My very first question for Jack in Boise today would be this one: How do you deal with chaos when it suddenly and seemingly pops up out of nowhere?
How about this instead? How did you not see this chaos coming. All the symptoms were evident long before the crisis arose.
User avatar
Western_101
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:09 pm
Location: Morton, IL

NFS71 since you are the eternal optimist. I suppose you have a sense of calm and peace that the West side will be completed 20 years from now. What will that make you 85?

It will make me 63 and probably about 19 years past giving a (what begins with F but means non care).

NFS71 keep telling us everything is OK after every building on campus has been demolished and they are setting charges in Sherman Hall. Yeah, everything is fine, everybody, its fine.

Turns out, it is't fine in the least. I predict Wetern will be out of the education business in 6 years, preceded by SIU....3 years from now.

Shit is bad. Like, not gonna get right bad. Only reason Chicago State hasn't been shut down is the "Race issue" CSU fleeces tax payers money at an epic historic rate. CSU is a HBCU in everything but name.
User avatar
Neckfansince71
Posts: 1181
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:06 pm

Well Redneck, I am just not going to give up on our "alma mater!" I too get a bit impatient with the westside, and your point about age has definitely has crossed my mind a few times. I have always appreciated your view of things although we don't always agree. But you have the passion for WIU that I have. Otherwise you would have stopped appearing on this website!;) jc
User avatar
Neckfansince71
Posts: 1181
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:06 pm

Tere,

Maybe its the difference between expecting rain and bringing your umbrella compared to expecting a flood and building an ark. Meaning, there were indicators out there that could have been interpreted as danger signs of the upcoming flood, but no one could have expected the mess Rauenr and Madigan created for the past two years which required all the state universities to survive on their own almost as private school institutions. We still need a firm vision that takes WIU forward and then aggressive movement in that direction! No sense in being "caught out in the rain" again! ;) jc
User avatar
Tere North
Posts: 1146
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:59 pm

Neckfansince71 wrote: Fri Apr 27, 2018 8:30 am Tere,

Maybe its the difference between expecting rain and bringing your umbrella compared to expecting a flood and building an ark. Meaning, there were indicators out there that could have been interpreted as danger signs of the upcoming flood, but no one could have expected the mess Rauenr and Madigan created for the past two years which required all the state universities to survive on their own almost as private school institutions. We still need a firm vision that takes WIU forward and then aggressive movement in that direction! No sense in being "caught out in the rain" again! ;) jc
I don't blame Thomas for the budget issues, but I do blame him for the enrollment and retention issues. That is where we've know for more than 10 years, meaning Goldfarb is also to blame, that trouble was coming, but we did nothing to address it.
FYE was started as a pilot for Honor's students taking 2 classes together. Wow, low and behold, the participants (all freshman Honor's students) had a higher GPA than non-participants (all non-Honors freshmen). Who didn't see that profound result coming. All it accomplished was smaller classes, hiring of more faculty as a result. Oddly, once it started, enrollment and retention started going down, I believe because of the hair-brained way it was developed instead of the way FYE was intended.
User avatar
Neckfansince71
Posts: 1181
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:06 pm

Well if that's what actually happen I am really scratching my head! ;) jc
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale has notified two unions that the university could lay off as many as 44 housing employees due to the closure of dorms on the east side of campus. The layoffs would be effective June 30.

The university announced in March that it would shutter east-campus buildings — including two 17-story dormitories, Mae Smith Hall and Neely Hall — to consolidate housing on the west side of campus.

Enrollment continues to decline at SIU-C. They are expecting a freshman class this fall that will be in the 800-900 range.
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

More fallout from the enrollment decline at SIU-Carbondale:

SIU-C will only operate one dining center for the next school year. This will result in a loss of food-service employee positions.
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

From Mayor Mike Inman's "State of the City" address:

The city budget is stable, though income is down in four of six city tax funds. Inman said lower enrollment at Western Illinois University was the cause of most drops.

WIU enrollment dropped from 11,368 in 2006 to 8,963 in 2017. The mayor said that is a 22 percent decline. He said that state appropriation for the university has declined by 33 percent.
Locked