71 Comments - LibrarianRyan - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:46 pm: I have never seen Rauner drive that old van. I have seen in him a black Mercedes a few times. He has that option. Students who hard earned educations are becoming worthless because they cant finish, or can not afford to transfer, do not have such luxuries. - Winnin' - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:48 pm: Bruce is no doubt lookin’ forward to the state fair. - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:49 pm: CSU needs to shut down. - Honeybear - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:50 pm: Look folks this what he wants You took the bait. Why would Rauner agree to speak otherwise? You just made a commercial for him. But I get it. How do we fight otherwise? But hey you all are smart and successful college grads Let’s learn our lesson and figure out a way of sticking it to him without playing into his hand. - DuPage - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:51 pm: Governor thinking: I wonder how much these buildings could sell for after they close down. - Gruntled University Employee - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:51 pm: The Governor had better get used to it cause it’s only going to get worse. - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:53 pm: How much tax money supports Chicago State? - Anonymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:57 pm: Honeybear - I don’t understand how booing him plays into his hand. And I really don’t see getting booed as a commencement speaker being turned into a pro-Rauner commercial. - Rocky Rosi - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:58 pm: I would boo too! It seems all these politicians only work for themselves. Young people are getting smart to their games. - G'Kar - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:59 pm: I have mix feeling about this. One the one hand, if any one needs to get booed it is Rauner, just like DeVos got yesterday at Bethune-Cookman. But, on the other hand, as an academic myself, I support the right for people we disagree with to be heard. Personally, I think it would have been more effective if the CSU grads did not boo or applaud and simply stood with their backs to him when he got up to speak. - Lech W - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:00 pm: In the words of Pink Floyd.. “I mean good manners don’t cost nothing do they, eh?” - Rogue Roni - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:01 pm: They haven’t received full funding for two years Ron. That’s probably why they are upset. Please try and keep up. - 47th Ward - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:01 pm: If I had a dollar for every college student who booed a commencement speaker, I’d be Governor by now. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:01 pm: –How much tax money supports Chicago State? – Ron, are part of some government entitlement program that requires others to spoon-feed you? Maybe you could bring some information to the party, in addition to your usual robotic chanting. - Fixer - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:02 pm: I’m guessing this is going to become the norm at most of his larger speaking events. - illini - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:03 pm: A 1 minute 50 second “speech”? What did he say? - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:03 pm: You didn’t answer my question Rogue. And wordslinger, I pay far more in taxes than I receive in benefits. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:05 pm: I don’t think it’s an accident that CSU is the first university that Rauner has set foot at in quite some time. I’m certain the Frat Boys will be flogging this video to every Downstate TV news station. And I’m sure it will get a lot of play. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:09 pm: –And wordslinger, I pay far more in taxes than I receive in benefits.– LOL, huh? Does that mean others here have to do the google for you? Such a sense of entitlement. Before you expect others to do the research to answer simple questions for you, show a little initiative and self-reliance and try the google your own self. The pride you’ll feel for accomplishing something on your own, rather than expecting a handout from someone else, will be worth it. - ArchPundit - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:11 pm: So is the scandal to Ron that a public institution receives public money? I’m not sure what the point is. - JS Mill - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:12 pm: = - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 12:49 pm: CSU needs to shut down.= On the Don Trump scale of thin-skindedness (1 being least thin skinned 10 being most) you rate a 7. Governor can’t handle a few boo-bird students? I would say toughen up- he said he was mister slings and arrows. Decisions have consequences. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:13 pm: A good rule of thumb for governors looking to close a university is to visit there once. Once you board everyone up, sell what you can, you can point to that visit. - Wading in... - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:13 pm: “Success hasn’t changed me. I would have paid $150,000 to join the wine club even if I wasn’t successful”. - Dublin - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:14 pm: ===And wordslinger, I pay far more in taxes than I –receive in benefits.=== Funny, Ron… Roads and bridges you drive on, the police and fire fighters that patrol your neighbourhood, the education of your fellow citizens and possibly yourself. The utilities in your town and the subsidies to your local produce and business that you use. You must be pretty wealthy to be able afford all of that on your own. - Downstate - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:15 pm: CSU graduation rate is less than 20%. Students have been sold a bill of goods (along with student debt). I’m guessing they just found out what their CSU degree is actually worth. I’d be booing too! - JS Mill - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:18 pm: @Ron- nice of you to come out swinging for your guy. He is vulnerable and helpless like a baby bunny. These darn CSU students have everything handed to them on a silver platter- I mean what more do they want? A reasonably affordable education? /s - ArchPundit - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:24 pm: ===CSU graduation rate is less than 20%. Of first time freshmen, but most of their students are transfer students who have about 49% graduation. All of that can and should be improved, but you also have to understand what the data mean. - Joe M - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:31 pm: ==A 1 minute 50 second “speech”?== Does anyone know if he had planned to talk longer? If so, I’d like to see a copy of his planned speech. - Saluki - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:36 pm: Ron: Is it just Chicago State that should be shut down, or is it all higher education? - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:38 pm: Saluki, we should take a good hard look at the State’s higher ed institutions. We should probably shut down EIU or WIU. - Ron Burgundy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:40 pm: – Does anyone know if he had planned to talk longer? If so, I’d like to see a copy of his planned speech. – Well he clearly wasn’t the main commencement speaker because they only invited him last week. (Different Ron by the way.) - ArchPundit - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:45 pm: -==Saluki, we should take a good hard look at the State’s higher ed institutions. We should probably shut down EIU or WIU. So CSU and one of the others includes 15,000 students. What school(s) has capacity to cover that number of students? - 37B - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:49 pm: Once again, in the words of Hubert Humphrey: “It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” I am quite sure that some amount of the taxes my wife and I send in to Springfield are used to help the people Hubert Humphrey describes. I also assume we are in the enviable position of “pay[ing] far more in taxes” than we “receive in benefits.” So be it. It is the price of civilization and the cost of passing the “moral test.” - Baloneymous - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:50 pm: Shut down EIU and WIU…. So I guess Rauners policies are working just fine. Enrollment is down, so let’s just close them. Give kids even more reason to go to college out of state. Fewer in state choices. - Joe M - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:53 pm: I guess it makes sense that he only gave a short talk if he wasn’t the main speaker. But so much for the argument that the booing of him limits free speech - if he didn’t have much to say in the first place. - thechampaignlife - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:55 pm: The best response would have been absolute silence. No applause, no booing as he steps to the podium. Crickets when he finishes. - Skeptic - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 1:56 pm: Please don’t feed the trolls. And Ron is nothing more than one. - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:03 pm: State schools had declining enrollment before Rauner. - GraduatedCollegeStudent - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:08 pm: ===Saluki, we should take a good hard look at the State’s higher ed institutions. We should probably shut down EIU or WIU. === Somebody tell the good people of Charleston and Macomb that their towns need to die so Ron can afford a trip to Acapulco. - GraduatedCollegeStudent - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:10 pm: Also this ceremony would not even be happening if Rauner had had his way last year. The boos are justified. - entitled_millenial - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:10 pm: Anyone else who buys a product that costs five figures and complains after sub-par service is just being a reasonable consumer. But if you’re a college kid you’re an entitled millennial. - Say What? - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:14 pm: The Quinn appointees to Emil Jones/Crony State University ran the university into the ditch (over the course of a decade), so it is all Rauner’s fault. - Glengarry - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:15 pm: I didn’t know Ayn Rand allowed followers to drive crappy vans you usually see in Subway parking lots. - Downstate - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:18 pm: If enrollment is off in Illinois colleges because of financial conditions, can someone explain: 1. Why UIUC enrollment is up? 2. Why Mizzou is at the lowest enrollment level in nearly 30 years? - Crispy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:20 pm: @FakeRon: “Welp, Officer, he was gonna die eventually, anyway–I just speeded things up a little!” Anyway, your statement isn’t true; enrollment was trending up on a couple of campuses, back in the good old days before Rauner inflicted himself on Illinois. - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:20 pm: - GraduatedCollegeStudent - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:08 pm: - Say What? - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:14 pm: The Quinn appointees to Emil Jones/Crony State University ran the university into the ditch (over the course of a decade), so it is all Rauner’s fault. Don’t you know,eEverything is blamed on Rauner. Even though Edgar kicked the can basically doooming the state for decades to come. It hasn’t a balanced budget in decades but it’s of course Rauner’s fault. - For What It's Worth - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:24 pm: Chicago State University’s enrollment figures for the Fall, 2017 semester were reported to be about 3,250. Enrollment has been declining since 2009. - illini - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:35 pm: @RonBurgundy - thank you for clearing that up. We all know about ( the other ) Ron, LP and a few others and did not want to include you in that group. - Glengarry - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 2:37 pm: Ron, or should I get to the point and call you Enron… - Skeptic - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:15 pm: “Mr. President, enrollment has been dropping since 2009!” “Why are the students going elsewhere?” “Better education, better facilities, and lower tuition.” “What do you suggest we do?” “Improve our facilities, get better faculty and find a way to help the students pay the tuition.” “No, that’s impossible, it would cost money. Just board up the windows and we’ll call it a day.” - Ron - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:24 pm: Skeptic, CSU has been a disaster for decades. Time to call it quits. - Ron Burgundy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:36 pm: –If enrollment is off in Illinois colleges because of financial conditions, can someone explain: 1. Why UIUC enrollment is up? 2. Why Mizzou is at the lowest enrollment level in nearly 30 years?– 1. UIUC is very selective academically and has had to turn away well qualified applicants for a long time. Right now they appear to be increasing their income by handing out less financial aid and by taking a lot of international students (largely from China) that are paying full out of state tuition. 2. Missouri’s problems are largely a result of the protests they had there in the last year or two, including one in which a now former faculty member was caught on video apparently calling for other students involved in the protest to physically remove or assault a student journalist covering the event. A number of administrators resigned over their handling of the issues. I would suspect that their lower enrollment is a result of parents not wanting to send their kids to a school where it’s not clear the administration has control over the campus, when there are many other options without that issue. As a result, enrollment has declined dramatically, dorms have closed and revenue is way down. - Ghost - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:50 pm: that was no cheap hotel he and the family stayed at in europe…. - Arsenal - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:53 pm: ==The Quinn appointees to Emil Jones/Crony State University ran the university into the ditch (over the course of a decade), so it is all Rauner’s fault.== #Forever2014 - Arsenal - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 3:55 pm: Also, this ain’t appearing in no Rauner ads. You can’t fit an explanation of why it was actually good that this crowd of people was booing you into a 60-second spot. - JumpinJ - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:04 pm: Stay classy future baristas! - Arsenal - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:09 pm: ==Stay classy future baristas!== Quoted for the delicious irony of someone mocking the job prospects of college graduates complaining about being “classy”. - Ron Burgundy - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:12 pm: I should add to my prior comment UIUC also has the financial benefit of being able to weather the storm better than the regionals, for example, because it is a large, research institution with revenue sources the others do not have, and has a $2B and change endowment. - City Zen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:14 pm: When your basketball team finishes 6-26, booing should come naturally. - Downstate - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:33 pm: Ron Burgundy, Exactly. Supply and demand! Parents and Students are seeking educational opportunities for their children that are an enhancement. Mizzou is the classic case of a reputation being tarnished literally overnight. CSU chose a path in which the CSU diploma is no longer worth the price of admission. Do you expect parents to keep sending their children to a school with an increasingly poor reputation? Living close to EIU, I’ve seen their path of degradation well before Bruce came into office. EIU has a culture problem. No amount of money will change that. Parents, for some silly reason, aren’t clamoring to send their kids to colleges with a bad culture. Supply and Demand - it exposes the best and worst. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 4:41 pm: Ron Burgundy, good post re UIUC/Mizzou. My kids have quite a few friends at Mizzou. (Using the in-state tuition scam) They all talk about the excellence of the social life, none about the education. - Railrat - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 5:14 pm: I just wish during the 8 years of OBama and Blue state governments the right would have done ” 1st amendment rights ” you leftists would have stroked out - illini - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 5:45 pm: @AA - unless you catch the St. Louis media about Mizzou you only know the tip of the iceburg. My cousins 2 daughters both got their BA’s and MA’s from there and are doing very well in their fields. But you are absolutely correct - the emphasis then ( and his youngest graduated 8 years ago ) was the social life. - City Zen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 6:24 pm: ==My kids have quite a few friends at Mizzou. (Using the in-state tuition scam) They all talk about the excellence of the social life, none about the education.== - City Zen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 6:25 pm: ==My kids have quite a few friends at Mizzou. (Using the in-state tuition scam) They all talk about the excellence of the social life, none about the education.== S.I.U. - Ron of Japan - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 6:57 pm: Are Chicago State (Crony State) and Northeastern (Northeasy) still the preferred diploma mills for pols in need of rapid resume’ enhancement? With so much political pull, how come this campuses are without influence? - Glengarry - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 7:26 pm: Enron, that’s lame. You don’t even use the present tense. - Whatever - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 7:48 pm: Ron == And wordslinger, I pay far more in taxes than I receive in benefits.== If so, you’re extremely unusual. Most of us went to public schools, including however far we went through college, as well as enjoying roads, police protection, etc. for at least 16 years before we got our first job and started paying any taxes ourselves. So you were a tax eater for a long time. If you had to pay that all back, plus interest, how far ahead would you be today? And if you had to fully fund your old teachers’ retirement funds, how much would you still owe? - City Zen - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 8:31 pm: ==So you were a tax eater for a long time. If you had to pay that all back, plus interest, how far ahead would you be today?== Let me get this straight. I have a household. I have a kid in public school. I pay taxes that fund that school. Why would my kid be a “tax eater” if I’m the one paying taxes on his behalf? Why are we both paying? But you are kinda right in one regard: Our children will fully fund my old teachers’ retirement funds. Lucky them, huh? - Ed Higher - Thursday, May 11, 17 @ 9:22 pm: Props to the governor for the sheer guts and courage to show his face at a state U, nearly every one of which has had a disastrous 2 years with him at the helm. - @misterjayem - Friday, May 12, 17 @ 6:57 am: “I pay far more in taxes than I receive in benefits.” Unless you’re currently overseas in a military uniform, pal, you’re on the happy end of your deal. – MrJM Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.