Leatherneck Nation

Neckfansince71 wrote:An interesting suggestion. I wonder what the driving force was to accomplish this? What would the advantages be? Starting there and then finishing at another campus? jc

I think the answer is simple. Sioux Falls is where most of the the people in SD are located. Also a huge opportunity for those with jobs and families to upgrade their resume and job potential. Who says you have to finish somewhere else?

The State Budget Impasse is now impacting WMEC-TV (Macomb's PBS station).

WMEC will soon be operating on a shorter broadcasting day: signing on later in the morning and signing off earlier at night.

These reduced hours will not affect people who view WMEC through Comcast. Comcast viewers will continue to receive all of WMEC's programming.

But it will impact people who view WMEC over-the-air or via satellite as they will only receive programming while WMEC's transmitter is on.

Tri-States Public Radio WIUM-FM has also announced that they will be having some upcoming reductions due to the budget impasse.

If Western does not get the remaining 61% of its 2016 State funding, we might be hearing about more cutbacks after the May 14 graduation.

Western offers an incentive to area high school students in an attempt to reverse 9 years of declining enrollment.

From tonight's WGEM News:
http://www.wgem.com/story/31878696/2016 ... n-the-area

More sad news.

I read in today's "Capitol Fax" that WIU will soon be laying off 14% of its Civil Service workforce.

wiu712 wrote:More sad news.

I read in today's "Capitol Fax" that WIU will soon be laying off 14% of its Civil Service workforce.

This is the "implementation" of the most recent announced layoffs (full breakdown here: http://tspr.org/post/breakdown-western- ... ty-layoffs)
These were the ones announced a few weeks ago and they're working through the process of notifying people and working through the "bumping" process (where someone in the same classification can "bump" someone with less experience who's the same classification elsewhere on campus).

It's not any new, previously unannounced cuts...yet....thankfully.

The "Layoff" story from Tri-States Public Radio mentions that there will be 113 (out of 781) civil service positions impacted. That is 14%.

There will be 30 (out of 679) faculty positions impacted. That is 4%.

With enrollment declining for 9 years, fewer faculty would be needed. It seems like the civil service positions are taking a disproportionate hit. The amount of grounds to maintain (grounds keepers) and buildings to maintain (custodians) is a constant. But the number of students to teach is declining.

wiu712 wrote:The "Layoff" story from Tri-States Public Radio mentions that there will be 113 (out of 781) civil service positions impacted. That is 14%.

There will be 30 (out of 679) faculty positions impacted. That is 4%.

With enrollment declining for 9 years, fewer faculty would be needed. It seems like the civil service positions are taking a disproportionate hit. The amount of grounds to maintain (grounds keepers) and buildings to maintain (custodians) is a constant. But the number of students to teach is declining.

Hard to drop faculty in large numbers when you don't drop their program. I was in an upper level math class or two with all of three students in classroom. Still takes a high paid professional to stand up before the group, no matter how small.

I think reducing faculty is going to happen a bit more in the next "round". A lot of people in civil service positions can essentially just be let go without a ton of planning, but with faculty, you have to take into account classes that we're required to offer in the future, classes that have already been scheduled, etc. They can't just eliminate a program, they have to phase it out, essentially not allowing anyone to sign up for the program anymore, but still fulfilling their obligations to students who are still working through the program. I think that the classes that you see with like 8 or fewer students are, in many cases, going to be eliminated, but it's going to be a slow process over the course of the next couple of years. As classes and programs are eliminated (or combined with other programs), they can gradually let a few faculty positions go each semester.

From Rich Miller's "Capitol Fax":

Without another influx of state funds, Eastern Illinois President David Glassman told state legislators Wednesday, the university may have to make another round of employee layoffs later this summer.

In a stopgap budget agreement last month, lawmakers gave the state’s higher education system some $600 million, about $12.5 million of which went to Eastern. In Eastern’s case, that is 30 percent of a normal year’s appropriation.

But Glassman and other university officials told the House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday that more money is needed.

EIU’s $12.5 million will be gone before the fall semester begins, Glassman said.

“In fact, the stopgap funding in real dollars is so low for EIU that it will likely necessitate additional layoffs beginning in late summer. This is the only way we can achieve the cost reductions necessary to make up for the absent appropriations,” he said. “Insufficient funds equal more layoffs.”

From Rich Miller's "Capitol Fax":

Southern Illinois University officials are bracing for another enrollment drop in the fall — and they’re pointing fingers at Springfield.

“We’re not there yet to give you specific data,” said SIU Carbondale Chancellor Brad Colwell. “But we will be down if projections hold. It’s not because of a lack of anything the Carbondale campus has done.”

Instead, Colwell said students and parents are telling school administrators they are “worried about what’s happening in Illinois.”

“Our data is showing they’re not going to another Illinois institution. They’re leaving the state,” Colwell said, speaking to reporters after SIU’s Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday morning. […]

[Carbondale Mayor Mike Henry] and others also noted that nearby schools located in other states are taking advantage of Illinois’ soured political climate, and places such as Southeast Missouri State University and Murray State University in Kentucky have stepped up their recruitment efforts of Southern Illinois’s graduating high school seniors.