Budget crisis tops agenda at Campus Senate

UIS admins consult campus community for ideas to solve current budget crisis

February 03, 2010
By Marianne Payne
News Reporter

With the state delinquent in its funding to higher education, UIS administrators are seeking creative ideas to survive with a planned 15 percent reduction of state funding.

With roughly one-half of the budget coming from the state and the other half coming from tuition, that calculates to roughly 7.5 percent of overall operating budget to be absorbed and considered gone forever. Illinois is several months behind on the bills, currently making payments originally scheduled for the first and second week of August last year.

"We are living on the rainy day fund,” said UIS Provost Harry Berman, at the Campus Senate meeting Jan. 29. “There is no money in reserve at UIS. Where will we go if there is another year like this?” The rainy day fund is money made available through the University of Illinois system.

Berman said an across the board, flat cut is not possible because certain areas such as utilities, medical care, and debt obligations need to remain fully funded.

“There are worthy things we do that we will not be able to do at the same level,” Berman said. Cost savings measures, such as the elimination of the printed schedule, are required to generate cash in the short term to keep up with payroll.

The most visible cost reduction measure is the controversial furlough system, which the University of Illinois system implemented last month. Employees are required to take four unpaid days off per semester, where by law they cannot work. The alternative temporary pay cut plan was added for those whose job made it difficult to sacrifice time away from the office.

“The furlough process just didn’t appear out of nowhere. It would be really hard to say this is a surprise,” said Tih-Fen Ting, Campus Senate Chair and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies. Ting criticized faculty who plan to synchronize furlough days in protest to bring attention to the resulting impact.

“We don’t want to send a message that the teachers are willing to sacrifice the education experience to send a message to law makers. There are better ways,” Ting said. Those “better ways”, according to Ting, will be lobbying events in Springfield aimed to confront the issue as a “united front.”

The furlough policy is considered a short-term solution for a long-term problem and administrators are looking at admissions as key to offsetting reductions. Creative recruiting ideas are welcome, which will focus on out-of-state and international students.

“I always say that if you lose one student, you need two students to maintain enrollment, and to grow you need three,” said Lori Giordano, Associate Director of Admissions. Giordano said headcount is up from last spring for new and continuing students.

Also being considered is an increase in tuition for online students. This semester, online faculty agreed to take more students, resulting in an increase of 500 students, with no increase in class offerings.

“This is a highly significant contribution from faculty to financial well being,” said Berman.

Ting called for more involvement from faculty and better two-way communication between administrators and faculty. She added she was “disappointed” in the attendance to the Campus Senate meeting.