Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

[ST_Lawson]

Waiting for the other shoe to drop?....here it is: http://www.wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php ... e_id=13379

[Neckfansince71]

This announcement was not totally unexpected, correct? jc

[WIU0812]

The school is worse off than anyone of us is willing to admit(except the media who may of actually had a reason to lump us with everyone) and our behavior on this board has been somewhat embarrassing as we have basically turned a blind eye to our situation by assuming that we had this large sum of money left to keep us going for years. I do not direct that comment to anyone just lot of people not wanting to believe it is this bad not just people on this board, but lots of alumni. I am sure with the slow movement of the necessary cuts that money has been burned through quickly and we are seeing the bottom of the barrel coming quicker than expected. Crossing fingers that WIU is able to hold out longer than CSU, EIU and a few others because if gets much worse it may come down to seeing who can survive long enough for there to be enough money to split between the remaining schools. I do not know how a school like ours could become more private and stay competitive, but we need to find ways quickly to operate on a budget less dependent on state money and not drastically raise tuition. Hopefully the union workers come through to help out in long run as that may play a big part as well and if they stay stubborn it could end up putting them completely out of jobs.

[Tere North]

Yet, faculty are not subject to furloughs even though very few teach all 5 days/week and raises will go into effect in 2017. Clearly UPI thinks it should be immune from the problem and leave the burden to administrators and civil service staff, as well as students who will be impacted by shorter service hours. I imagine UPI will also protest the merging of departments where it results in faculty being released, but have no concern about other staff impacted by those changes. As Dr. Holly Stoval in Women's Studies noted, heaven forbid should you even confuse faculty with staff.

[WIU0812]

Just read the article about CSU, perhaps the below sentence shows the problem. Do most states really support 57 public universities? Maybe they do, but that seems like a high number.


The agency also asked all the state's 57 public schools to provide basic financial and enrollment information, including the current cash situation, cuts in faculty and staff, and expectations for fall enrollment "in light of concerns prospective students may have about the stability of higher education in the state."

[Neckfansince71]

Guess that must be junior colleges too! jc

[ST_Lawson]

Just read the article about CSU, perhaps the below sentence shows the problem. Do most states really support 57 public universities? Maybe they do, but that seems like a high number.


The agency also asked all the state's 57 public schools to provide basic financial and enrollment information, including the current cash situation, cuts in faculty and staff, and expectations for fall enrollment "in light of concerns prospective students may have about the stability of higher education in the state."

I don't know if that's high or not, but it includes community colleges as well. I'd assume that it's not uncommon for a large population state to have a large number of those, especially ones with a large urban population.

[sealhall74]

Prepare for the Illinois public higher education equivalent of the previous federal DOD Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Probably long overdue.

[WIU0812]

Just read the article about CSU, perhaps the below sentence shows the problem. Do most states really support 57 public universities? Maybe they do, but that seems like a high number.


The agency also asked all the state's 57 public schools to provide basic financial and enrollment information, including the current cash situation, cuts in faculty and staff, and expectations for fall enrollment "in light of concerns prospective students may have about the stability of higher education in the state."

I don't know if that's high or not, but it includes community colleges as well. I'd assume that it's not uncommon for a large population state to have a large number of those, especially ones with a large urban population.

I figured that included community colleges, but it just seems like a lot even including these I already think there is to many universities, take the top 6 to 8 universities and get rid of everything else keeping the directional schools as they help cover whole state with affordable 4 year schools. I could definitely see a Higher Education realignment and some campuses closing. Personally I was never for the WIU QC, it is only an hour and half away and we already had a well established large campus with plenty of room to grow. Money should of been better spent on just keeping Macomb's campus nice rather than adding yet another college.


What do the politicians think that just because there is not a college every 10 miles kids won't want to or try to go to college? If they try to say well they will go to another states university, well usually they have higher rates and are just as far away as a Illinois schools unless in case of quad cities its probably an hour to University of Iowa vs the hr and half to WIU. Seems like you would rather have a few highly funded and up to date universities rather than 50 struggling and in need of maintenance.

[Neckfansince71]

Personally, I am looking forward to this discussion thread to be over. Would much rather debate our next QB or big man! jc