Campus Senate prepares to tackle economic crisis

February 4, 2009
By Greta Myers
Public Affairs Reporter

Saying the “thing under the bed in the middle of the night is actually less scary when you look at it,” Campus Senate president Pat Langley is urging open discussions of the fiscal crisis facing UIS .

Concerns over a budget rescission for UIS’ 2010 fiscal year dominated the discussion  of the Jan. 30 meeting of the Campus Senate.

A campus-wide hiring freeze, cuts in faculty travel, and the suspension of big-ticket items are in place at UIS, as the University tries to reach the 10 percent, or $ 2.3 million, to be set aside to make up for a projected budget revenue shortfall.

Langley, stressed the importance of acting quickly.

“The longer we wait, the more options close,” she said. “We need to have the conversations, we need to have to get started. The thing under the bed in the middle of the night is actually less scary when you look at it.”

Provost Harry Berman echoed this sentiment in an e-mailed message Jan. 27 to UIS faculty and academic professionals  when he referred to a 14th century mystical text of spiritual guidance.  A “cloud of unknowing,” Berman said, surrounds the “painful dilemma we face this spring in handling our finances.”  The rescission, Berman, “Means pulling cash from all quarters of the university.”

At Friday’s Campus Senate meeting, Berman said  measures such as raising tuition need to be carefully considered.    

“We need to be mindful of the economic straits a lot of us are in,” he said. 

But without the resources brought in by the research departments at the University of Illinois’ Champaign and Chicago campuses, UIS will have a harder time coming up with the 10 percent reduction, Langley said. 

“In an institution so small, it’s divisive… when there’s three pieces of meat on the table and 10 people trying to get it,” she said.

However, Langley was optimistic over what the recent changes in gubernatorial leadership may bring for UIS’ budget woes. 

“There is some hope that Illinois government will function at a slightly higher level and deal with these problems,” she said. 
Also at the Senate meeting:

• Berman said the number of applications to UIS is up 2 percent and cited the detailed work the WUIS radio station on campus provided in covering the impeachment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
  
  
• Renovation of Brookens Library continues. It’s an example, Berman said, of ways the university is moving ahead in 2009.
  
  
• The UIS Graduate Council presented reports on raising entrance standards for students pursuing a master’s in history.
  
  
• Heard a proposal to establish a Management Information Systems undergraduate major in the college of Business and Management.