Dear Commons Community,
In a sign of the seriousness of the budget problems in Illinois, Eastern Illinois University announced on Friday that it was laying off 177 employees, a cut in the size of its civil-service work force of roughly 30 percent. The standoff, between the Republican governor, Bruce V. Rauner, and the Democratic-led legislature has left public colleges without state money for nearly nine months. As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education:
“The civil-service group includes housing and dining workers as well as members of the student-life and academic-support staffs, among others, said Vicki S. Woodard, a university spokeswoman. “It really affects offices throughout campus,” she said. Some professional administrative staff members have been forced to take one furlough day per week through the end of June, she added.
David M. Glassman, president of the university, said in a written statement that Eastern Illinois faculty, staff, and students were “victims of the lack of any bipartisanship and compromise by our state leaders.” Ms. Woodard said the university hoped the layoffs would be temporary. “The intent is to bring them all back” once the state enacts a budget, she said. “Until we get actual numbers and know what we’re dealing with, we can’t say for certain.”
Rumors circulated last fall that the university could close this semester due to the budget impasse, though officials have assured students that the institution will remain open. Eastern Illinois’s financial health has been affected by the lack of state money, however, with Moody’s Investors Service downgrading the university’s credit rating to junk-bond status last month.
Faculty members escaped this round of cutbacks. But unionized professors and academic-support staff members face a major vote next week. They will decide whether to accept a 5.6-percent pay cut through the end of the fiscal year, on June 30.
Eastern Illinois says it’s $2 million short of making payroll, and it developed a proposal jointly with union leaders to deal with the gap. The institution would pay back the reductions for union members making less than $50,000 per year after receiving $5 million from the state for this fiscal year, and then, after receiving another $5 million, half of the cut for those making more than $50,000. If there’s no state appropriation for this year, though, the university wouldn’t have to reimburse the professors.”
Not a good situation for the students, staff, and faculty of Eastern Illinois.
Tony
