Board of Trustees Meeting Jan 25

General Campus News, Updates, Discussion
ibleedpurpleandgold
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ST_Lawson wrote:
sealhall74 wrote:Was the voting secret? Who was the naysayer? Regarding BOT, I am a little disappointed Governor screwed up yet again by putting another Macombite on the BOT. Where is the Chicago area representation - that's where probably 90+% of the students are coming from. Way too heavy QC and Macomb area representation IMHO. SMH
No, voting wasn't secret. The "nay" vote was from Phil Hare (http://www.wiu.edu/board_of_trustees/hare.php) and apparently he was pretty seriously pissed off about it.
The student representative also voted no, but that's largely symbolic because legally, in certain instances (like this) the student rep vote doesn't count.
The newest addition to the BOT, Todd Lester, did not vote (too new, too unfamiliar with all the intricacies of the situation).

From what I've heard, the university came to the union and offered to take all tenured faculty off the "layoffs list" in exchange for giving up the 1% pay raise for this year. The union came back and said they'd do that, but only if the university would guarantee that they would get the 1% pay increase in 2017. The university couldn't do that because...well...we don't know how much $ we're getting from the state this year, there's no way they can promise salary increases for next year at this point.

I've also heard rumors about other universities in the state and what options they are exploring at this time, but I won't really get into it here.
What a coincidence that the politician on the board vote nay.
ibleedpurpleandgold
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:16 pm

WIU0812 wrote:From a business perspective this makes complete and total sense. If you were creating a product and then slowly demand for your product declined and after years of declines you said "well I feel bad and do not want to lay off any of my workers so I will continue to still pay them same with raises and just have them do less and less"(teach less and less students per teacher) you would go bankrupt in no time having to many workers for the downsized workload. Layoffs happen all the time in the private world where if you product or service is not in demand and you are not making money you have to let a few people go. Obviously you try to keep your best help, but the reality of it is that if there is no demand(students) then there is not need to have the extra supply(teachers). I am sure there is good people losing jobs and I hope they find new ones else where, hopefully better ones, but the school is shrinking and has been for years so it is time to really evaluate our optimum faculty size and student needs for the next decade.

I would love to hear the argument from the guy who did vote no, just would like to see what his points were. Hopefully his arguments were not about construction projects or things of that nature since none of that money can be used for faculty wages in my understanding. Most comes from programs through the state meant for upgrades to universities and the rest from student fees devoted to different items to improve their life on campus. That would be like donating to your town and them saying it was going to a new local library and instead just hiring a few extra helpers in city hall with the money meant for public's use.
Like Scott said that was more of a symbolic from the student representative plus if he voted yes i don't think the students would have been very supportive of someone they vote in to represent them.
wiu712
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Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Two articles from the "Western Courier":

President Thomas addresses budget issues in letter to the community.
http://westerncourier.com/34435/news/pr ... community/


BOT votes in favor of faculty reductions.
http://westerncourier.com/34421/news/bo ... eductions/
ibleedpurpleandgold
Posts: 304
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:16 pm

Everyone talks about the amount of enrollment drop but one thing that never get talked about are how many students live off campus or commute and how much less money that provides the school not that i blame the students it's just something that never seems to be brought up.
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Tere North
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leatherface wrote:Faculty shouldn't be part of the $ shortage? What planet do these people live on? Typical labor union BS. I've worked at three colleges, and while there is always a small cadre of faculty who you can depend on for extra involvement without being paid for every professional duty outside of the classroom etc, most I have seen over the years are coddled, and have a feeling of entitlement.
I couldn't agree with you more, and I'm a former WIU tenured faculty member. I was appalled with the faculty union (UPI) protested the WIU administration sending out a survey to ask all employees, faculty and staff, what their preferences were for addressing the budget shortfall. UPI wanted the tell WIU what to do and claim to know what their contingency wanted without ever checking to see what that really was.
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ST_Lawson
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Tere North wrote:
leatherface wrote:Faculty shouldn't be part of the $ shortage? What planet do these people live on? Typical labor union BS. I've worked at three colleges, and while there is always a small cadre of faculty who you can depend on for extra involvement without being paid for every professional duty outside of the classroom etc, most I have seen over the years are coddled, and have a feeling of entitlement.
I couldn't agree with you more, and I'm a former WIU tenured faculty member. I was appalled with the faculty union (UPI) protested the WIU administration sending out a survey to ask all employees, faculty and staff, what their preferences were for addressing the budget shortfall. UPI wanted the tell WIU what to do and claim to know what their contingency wanted without ever checking to see what that really was.
From what I've heard, the offer for removing tenured professors from the list is still on the table if the union would agree to the terms. Faculty members are being encouraged to speak up to their union rep to make it known that many of them would gladly forgo a small raise if it meant that a large part of the faculty would get to keep their jobs.
Scott Lawson - Board Admin
Western Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
wiu712
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Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

Story about the BOT meeting as seen on the KHQA-TV-7 News:
http://khqa.com/news/local/financial-wo ... oom-campus
wiu712
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Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

From Tri-States Public Radio (WIUM-FM):
http://tspr.org/post/staff-cuts-authorized-wiu
LeatherCy
Posts: 200
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:52 pm

Wish the staff reductions would have had Jackie Thomas at the top of the list!!
wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

From today's "McDonough County Voice":
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/2016 ... -reduction
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