Leatherneck Nation

Is the faculty at WESTERN part of a union?

Yes, faculty are members of the UPI Local 4100 (University Professionals of Illinois).

Is that common for state university faculty in Illinois to be union members?

leatherface wrote:Is that common for state university faculty in Illinois to be union members?

http://www.upilocal4100.org/
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It looks like Chicago State, EIU, Governors State, Northeastern Illinois, WIU and some classifications at Northern and UIS are part of the same union.

I don't see SIU, SIUE, ISU, UIC or U of I (Champaign) listed.

Thanks, Scott. Very interesting to see the break out of what schools have union faculty, and those who don't. I have some comments about a possible correlation between those with a union faculty, and those with out., but, will hold them until I have time to formulate the opinion.

I'm pretty sure all the state schools' faculties have a union representing them. U of I is no different. http://cfaillinois.org/about/ Just google "School X" and "faculty union" and you'll be directed to the page. You can stop with that opinion formulation now.

VoiceOfReasonFan is correct. SIU, SIUE, ISU, UIC, and UIUC faculty are also unionized, though under different organizations than UPI. However, I think the UIUC union is for non-tenure track faculty. In general I would venture that most universities, with or without a faculty union, are resistant to change and the attitude for program cuts is more like "good idea, as long as it doesn't impact me in any way".

I assume by cutting programs, that means they will still be around for another three years, right? Or will on-board students be forced to transfer immediately? Maybe switch to a different minor - students do that all the time, dont they? If you think about it that way, a change over the span of 3 or 4 years will hardly be noticeable. LOL

Western and Macomb appear to have more in common with Truman State and Kirksville than it does with Illinois State (Bloomington/Normal), Northern Illinois (DeKalb), SIU-E (Edwardsville), etc.

The 22% loss in enrollment from 2006 to 2014 is very alarming. Reduced enrollment means less in student fees to support Athletics.

One of our football players who graduated in December told me that a move to Division 2 is a possibility due to finances.

I could see them cutting some athletics first like tennis or XC sports I would think would be first on their list. Always a touchy subject but I would assume they would cut those sports that draw least attention first and work way up. I doubt cutting a couple sports would help much but I could be wrong.

Smarter scheduling helps to in order to cut travel and hotel cost.