Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

General Campus News, Updates, Discussion
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

WIU Board of Trustees meet for the first time following an Open Meetings Act violation.
Lead story on tonight's KHQA-TV-7 News:
https://khqa.com/news/local/wiu-board-o ... -violation
rocki
Posts: 1510
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:08 pm

Neckerchief wrote: Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:45 pm
I hope the light of JBP removes the shadow of BruceR come February.
I don’t intend for this post to be political, but I’ve seen a lot of Rauner bashing here that I don’t think is justified. And note that I did NOT vote for Rauner in the last election. But let’s look at the facts.

According to the State Higher Education Executive Officers of Boulder, CO (sheeo.org), in 2017, the state of Illinois spent $16,055 per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) higher education student. That amount is higher than 48 other states. In fact, in 2017, the average amount spent by states on higher education was $7,642 per FTE. This is less than HALF of what was spent on higher education in Illinois.

Another fact: Enrollment in higher education in the U.S peaked in 2011 at 11,622,033. In 2017, that number had fallen by more than 600,000. And due to declining birth rates, these numbers will most likely continue to fall.

Further, students are realizing that piling up student loans only to get a job at Starbucks after graduation is not realistic. There are many high paying jobs available today without a college degree. These facts will lead to further declines in higher education enrollment.

The incoming governor has pledged to increase spending on higher education. This is unrealistic, in my view. Illinois is deeply in debt, and more importantly, the pension system is massively underfunded. According to Fitch Ratings, Illinois’ pension debt plus long-term debt is the highest in the nation.

So, the state of Illinois has a major problem: too much debt. Misplaced anger at the WIU Board of Trustees or WIU Administration will not solve this problem. Threatening to strike will not solve this problem. Threatening legal action will not solve this problem. Signing a petition will not solve this problem. The only solution is to spend less money and begin to pay down the debt.

Universities in Illinois are the canary in the coal mine. Illinois is broke. Something that can’t go on forever WON’T. Welcome to the new normal.
Have to agree with your assessment. Unpopular as the idea may be, Western will still have to tighten its' belt. As I see it, the only way the incoming governor would be able to increase funding to anyone will be to raise taxes. Considering how we're already bleeding residents, how much longer does anyone think it will take for the "tax you to the max" to start hemorrhaging IL residents? Who pays the taxes when everyone bails? Seems to me we've kicked the can down the road as far as we can, and the day of reckoning is here.
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Western Board of Trustees Public Comments Center on Open Meeting Act Violations and Tri-States Public Radio.
Headline story in Saturday's McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/2018 ... n-oma-tspr


Faculty Senate releases statement responding to WIU postponing decisions on cuts.
From the McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/2018 ... ns-on-cuts
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

More Changes Coming to WIU Board of Trustees.
From Tri-States Public Radio, WIUM-FM:
http://www.tspr.org/post/more-changes-coming-wiu-board
LeatherCy
Posts: 200
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:52 pm

Under the astute leadership of Jackie Thomas downhill!! Same direction it's been going since he moved into Sherman Hall! Hopefully with all the vacancies on the BOT we'll have some trustees that will do what should have been done years ago and show Jackie the door ASAP!!
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Getting 5 new people on the 8-member BOT could be the impetus for a lot of change.
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Tere North
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Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:59 pm

wiu712 wrote: Sat Dec 15, 2018 3:50 pm Getting 5 new people on the 8-member BOT could be the impetus for a lot of change.
Amen!
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Neckerchief
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:07 pm

Who pays the taxes when everyone bails? Seems to me we've kicked the can down the road as far as we can, and the day of reckoning is here.
So true!
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

From Ralph Martire:

State funding for higher education has declined by over 51% in real, inflation-adjusted terms since fiscal year 2000. In response, tuition at public colleges and universities in Illinois over that sequence has increased at a rate that’s 62.6% greater than the national average. So it should come as no surprise that over the last decade enrollment in public institutions of higher learning has declined by 8.1% in Illinois, despite growing by 7.7% nationally.

Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a bipartisan fiscal policy think tank, and the Arthur Rubloff Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University. He also was appointed to Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker’s Budget and Innovation Committee transition panel.
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Western_101
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:09 pm
Location: Morton, IL

Not sure when we reached "the law of diminishing returns" but clearly we are there.

http://www.collegecalc.org/colleges/illinois/


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