Bubb out as AD

[meganeck]

Instead of complaining I have been working with admissions at Western to turn around our enrollment.  I gave $2000 to admissions last Fall to advertise on phones for Discover Western.  This past Spring I sent out 1,500 emails to guidance counselors in Illinois to promote Discover Western.  My high school guidance counselor recommended I apply to Western after I visited Southern.  Richard Coomey in admissions said admits are up recently for Freshman how much I don't know.  It would be so great if we could turn the corner on our enrollment!  Sorry getting off of AD talk.

 

Hey that is great and good to hear, I appreciate everything you are doing to get the enrollment turned around. Any amount of increase in enrollment is a positive.

[NewNeck]

Macomb is Macomb. Yes. But it has ALWAYS been Macomb. How did they recruit players and transfers before. Oh yea, whether anyone at the university wants to admit it or not, its identity was a party school. Kids wanted to come here. You can go back to when all the new laws were enforced and see the enrollment and success of athletics absolutely nose dive after that. 

sadly the school and athletics will never return to even half what it was before the over-reaction to the wheeler street block party. 

WIU/Macomb stabbed each other in the back at the same time and walked away patting each other on the back thinking they did the right thing. I will die on that hill. 


 

My brother-in-law is on the faculty here at WIU, does a lot of recruiting stuff, but is also a WIU alum from my era (late '90s, early '00s) and was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs for a while. I've talked to him about this.

The issue is that kids priorities have shifted:

• Younger people nationwide are drinking at a MUCH lower rate than previous generations (record lows), and many of the ones that do, they'd rather do it in a small house setting with some friends rather than at some huge party just off campus. A "party school" doesn't hold the same interest that it did 20-40 years ago.
• One of the major areas where we used to draw many of our students, local small towns/rural areas, are decreasing in population. Those are the kids that view Macomb as the "big city".
• The other area we drew many students from, the Chicago suburbs, the kids want amenities that they are used to at home. They want a variety of chain restaurants and stores that you only get in larger communities; they want big concerts and events; and they want to see new growth...new apartments, new retail, new campus buildings (maybe our new GCPA will help with that, hopefully). That's what they're used to in the suburbs...new growth. For example, a large grassy area like we have on Adams, across from where Linc/Wash are (https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTt7c3KBQQs3w8sx5), if that was in Normal, that close to campus, it would have been snatched up very quickly and there would be a whole line of 3 or 4-story development there where you have retail on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors by now. Because it's in Macomb, it's just sitting there essentially empty. The green space is nice, and better than a whole line of run-down houses, but it doesn't show that theres much growth in the area.

My brother-in-law said that when he chose to come to Western, the university itself was the draw. It didn't matter what the community was like. Now, when he talks to students in the suburban communities, they won't even consider Macomb because the community is small and run-down in many areas. They would much rather go to some place like U of I, ISU, UIC, or out of state.

I also stand by my assertion that decreasing funding has really hurt most of the regional universities. Western moreso than many of the others because it's in a smaller community. Funding started dropping in 2003...enrollment started dropping in 2007. From there is a pretty solid correlation of downward funding and decreasing enrollment until around 2022/23, when funding finally leveled out, but by then, so much damage had been done that enrollment continued to slide. Now, Western is the lowest-funded university (by % of funds needed to support current student population) in the state. Without increased funding to help repair some of the damage...improve the buildings we use, hire a few more people...I don't see how we'll be able to pull out of it.
 

 

I have had very similar thoughts over the last several years. It was once accepted to go to a state directional school that was a little run down, seek the party life and be a “typical” college student. Today’s HS kids want something much different. Other regional universities were able to get ahead of this trend by modernizing living spaces and making the curb appeal of the school attractive to prospective students. WIU never really did and in today’s world where the majority of higher education is aggressively recruiting students we have relied on just being the same old Western. Also it seems as if Macomb and WIU haven’t been able to play nice and don’t really compliment each other or share the vision of returning the university to the hub of the city. 

WIU needs to make itself desirable again and they should do something they’ve never done…invest in athletics! WIU could completely shift its perception by building some nice mid major facilities that would not only enhance the type of athlete that chooses the school but make students want to stay at WIU and be a part of a modern student experience. 

interesting article on the state of another mid major … https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/alu ... 82fa3.html


 

[sealhall74]

Macomb is Macomb. Yes. But it has ALWAYS been Macomb. How did they recruit players and transfers before. Oh yea, whether anyone at the university wants to admit it or not, its identity was a party school. Kids wanted to come here. You can go back to when all the new laws were enforced and see the enrollment and success of athletics absolutely nose dive after that. 

sadly the school and athletics will never return to even half what it was before the over-reaction to the wheeler street block party. 

WIU/Macomb stabbed each other in the back at the same time and walked away patting each other on the back thinking they did the right thing. I will die on that hill. 



 

My brother-in-law is on the faculty here at WIU, does a lot of recruiting stuff, but is also a WIU alum from my era (late '90s, early '00s) and was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs for a while. I've talked to him about this.

The issue is that kids priorities have shifted:

• Younger people nationwide are drinking at a MUCH lower rate than previous generations (record lows), and many of the ones that do, they'd rather do it in a small house setting with some friends rather than at some huge party just off campus. A "party school" doesn't hold the same interest that it did 20-40 years ago.
• One of the major areas where we used to draw many of our students, local small towns/rural areas, are decreasing in population. Those are the kids that view Macomb as the "big city".
• The other area we drew many students from, the Chicago suburbs, the kids want amenities that they are used to at home. They want a variety of chain restaurants and stores that you only get in larger communities; they want big concerts and events; and they want to see new growth...new apartments, new retail, new campus buildings (maybe our new GCPA will help with that, hopefully). That's what they're used to in the suburbs...new growth. For example, a large grassy area like we have on Adams, across from where Linc/Wash are (https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTt7c3KBQQs3w8sx5), if that was in Normal, that close to campus, it would have been snatched up very quickly and there would be a whole line of 3 or 4-story development there where you have retail on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors by now. Because it's in Macomb, it's just sitting there essentially empty. The green space is nice, and better than a whole line of run-down houses, but it doesn't show that theres much growth in the area.

My brother-in-law said that when he chose to come to Western, the university itself was the draw. It didn't matter what the community was like. Now, when he talks to students in the suburban communities, they won't even consider Macomb because the community is small and run-down in many areas. They would much rather go to some place like U of I, ISU, UIC, or out of state.

I also stand by my assertion that decreasing funding has really hurt most of the regional universities. Western moreso than many of the others because it's in a smaller community. Funding started dropping in 2003...enrollment started dropping in 2007. From there is a pretty solid correlation of downward funding and decreasing enrollment until around 2022/23, when funding finally leveled out, but by then, so much damage had been done that enrollment continued to slide. Now, Western is the lowest-funded university (by % of funds needed to support current student population) in the state. Without increased funding to help repair some of the damage...improve the buildings we use, hire a few more people...I don't see how we'll be able to pull out of it.
 


 

I have had very similar thoughts over the last several years. It was once accepted to go to a state directional school that was a little run down, seek the party life and be a “typical” college student. Today’s HS kids want something much different. Other regional universities were able to get ahead of this trend by modernizing living spaces and making the curb appeal of the school attractive to prospective students. WIU never really did and in today’s world where the majority of higher education is aggressively recruiting students we have relied on just being the same old Western. Also it seems as if Macomb and WIU haven’t been able to play nice and don’t really compliment each other or share the vision of returning the university to the hub of the city. 

WIU needs to make itself desirable again and they should do something they’ve never done…invest in athletics! WIU could completely shift its perception by building some nice mid major facilities that would not only enhance the type of athlete that chooses the school but make students want to stay at WIU and be a part of a modern student experience. 

interesting article on the state of another mid major … https://azdailysun.com/sports/local/alu ... 82fa3.html


 

 

And on the way to that goal, find a way to revitalize University Drive.  It is a ghost town now compared to what was there during my stay with several pubs, a movie theater, Hy-Vee, Holiday Inn a stone throw away, etc.  Before you ever step foot inside stadium or arena, you make that trek onto University Drive and you don't get a second chance to make a good first impression.
 

[Wiufan87]

I agree University drive had some stuff when I was there I used to walk to Hy Vee from Wetzel Hall to buy stuff.  How about a Kwik Star or Casey's where you could get gas at and buy stuff on the corner where movie theater used to be. Ideas!?

[rocki]

I can't remember - did the university purchase the ground where the theater and Godfather's pizza were? If so, I doubt much in the line of Casey's, etc. would go in there.

[Wiufan87]

If the University owns land where movie theatre used to be can they sell it to private sector?  There is nowhere to get gas around there.  

[meganeck]

Anyone know if the job has been posted yet or how long it will be posted for?

[meganeck]

I can't remember - did the university purchase the ground where the theater and Godfather's pizza were? If so, I doubt much in the line of Casey's, etc. would go in there.

 

For some reason I thought I remember someone saying that the University bought that land, but not sure, I thought there were some WIU affiliated buildings or something in that area now. I too would walk to Hy-Vee and the movie theater when I went to school there.