Leatherneck Nation

And your points are valid- however, you can put lipstick on a pig, but, it's still ...... I don't "blame" Western for these enrollment drops. The current advertising is very good.The current student board member of our community college is transferring to an out of state school to finish the BA. Becoming oh so common, and likely these students will not return to Illinois. Of our two children, one went to a different Illinois state university than Western, and one went to a private school in a neighboring state. Neither one works or lives close to Illinois.

You're right....it sucks that it's dropping at all, and the whole situation is scary right now.

A lot of people laughed at President Goldfarb when he made the comment about 10 years ago that Western would be a university in the 6,000 enrollment range.

Looks like his prophecy may be getting closer to reality.

Governor Bruce Rauner wants to end duplication in the state university system:

"I would like to reform, change our university structure for the state system so there's not as much overlap," Rauner said. "The money should be in the classroom with the students and the teachers and not so much in the layers of overhead. Do we need every school in the state to offer a certain thing?" he asked about overlapping programs. "Should some offer some, and some others not offer it?"

Some of that overlap may be going away in the case of Governors State University in University Park, south of Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported this week that tuition there is going up 15 percent and 22 degree programs are being eliminated due to the budget stalemate. Affected programs are in areas including math, psychology, art, media studies, early childhood education, and special education, though in some cases, other options in those fields exist on campus.

Meanwhile, Rauner is sending mixed messages regarding higher education. "I want to put more resources into our state university system — Western, Eastern, Southern, ISU, U of I," Rauner said Wednesday at a rural community economic development conference in downtown Springfield. "They are economic engines in our communities, and I'm going to be advocating with them to help expand their footprint around the state — open branches, open affiliates, make connections in our communities outside of their core campus, so we can create jobs and more educational opportunities ... in a dozen, 15, 18, communities around the state."

However, during his term as governor, he has proposed budgets that cut higher-education funding. Community colleges and the state universities are among institutions hit hardest by the state budget impasse that is in its 21st month.

Rauner's goal of ending duplication of programs could be the starting point for a "one-system" of higher education instead of the multiple operating systems that we now have.

Until we have a University leadership with a vision for what Western can and should be, we will continue to languor among the woulda, shoulda, couldas.

No, that new vision likely won't be easy, but it is time to reinvent Western. JD has the momentum riding high with the Women's Basketball team. Now, do we can any leadership brave and daring enough to do the same with the institution as a whole.

Tere North wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:05 am Until we have a University leadership with a vision for what Western can and should be, we will continue to languor among the woulda, shoulda, couldas.

Former university president Al Goldfarb spoke often about the "Truman State Model" as being the direction that Western should be going. I am not sure exactly what that would entail.

wiu712 wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:22 am

Tere North wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:05 am Until we have a University leadership with a vision for what Western can and should be, we will continue to languor among the woulda, shoulda, couldas.

Former university president Al Goldfarb spoke often about the "Truman State Model" as being the direction that Western should be going. I am not sure exactly what that would entail.

Refocusing of the smaller state universities into more "core" offerings. Truman State was pretty much just another regional state university (Northeast Missouri State) until they restructured, focused on being more of a liberal arts university and becoming more selective with their admissions standards...essentially like what you see with your standard private liberal arts college/university, but at a public school.

You've also got schools like Missouri S&T that focuses on engineering, business/management, IT, etc...Northwest Missouri State that focuses on Management/Marketing, Education, Psychology, etc.

I don't know what the best focus would be for us. Obviously our LEJA department is large and pretty highly regarded, Business Administration has a lot of students and Liberal Arts are fairly high up there. The QC campus has been doing a lot with engineering and...I think...nursing?

Wisconsin has a similar model as well, but idk if it would work for Illinois. Missouri and Wisconsin both have their own problems in higher ed right now too, so it's not like it would solve everything.

The "Truman model" would require the Illinois State Legislature designating Western as the official Liberal Arts University in Illinois. Also, Western would need to be designated as the only public university in Illinois as highly selective in admission standards. I doubt any of the other state school in Illinois would allow that. Also, I can't picture those yard birds in Springfield going along with this- they can't even agree on a required by law state budget.
Many have said before, Western needs a niche, and promote the hell out of it. I don't believe LEJA could be that, too many other ways and many, many criminal justice programs around. I believe it would need to be something directly related to current career opportunities, and/or, capitalize on industrial and manufacturing careers, which are growing and do have federal dollars for students. Maybe get a reputation like Missouri S&T ( however, Rolla has long been looked upon as the top engineering school in Missouri) but in Logistics, CAD, manufacturing and industrial professional training.

Governors State University's plan to cut 22 degree programs and raise tuition by 15% will only decrease their enrollment and could start them on a "Death Spiral".

Purdue-Northwest is only 20 miles away in Hammond, IN. So there are other options for people in that area of Illinois.

Interesting to note that Purdue-Northwest is the 5th largest public university in Indiana with more than 15,000 students. They play athletics at the NAIA level.

SIU President Randy Dunn said yesterday that SIU cannot operate for another 20 months without state support “short of hollowing out” its core programs. If Illinois does not pass a budget for another 20 months, Dunn said SIU would be forced to gouge the core of its campus programs, services, facilities, and regional support projects through another round of budget cuts. He said “the lion’s share” of those reductions would be felt by the Carbondale campus and would go into effect before July 1. Dunn said the university is reviewing whether to eliminate academic departments and possibly an entire college. That will not be good news for Carbondale.

McHenry County College trustees voted late Thursday to lay off 19 employees amid financial pressure that officials said was caused in part by the long-running state budget stalemate.

The cuts affect 19 positions, including seven unionized support staff members, three administrators, and four counselors. No faculty members were let go.