29 Comments - Big Joe - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:14 am: They still have the foremost option in Rauner’s eye………..Shutting Down!! We all know that is the name of the game for him. Sad. - Because I Said So.... - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:27 am: If Tom Cross is so concerned, maybe he should talk to the guy who appointed him and has proposed deep cuts to higher ed. This destruction of higher ed is the Governors doing. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:31 am: Still an open invitation, see you at Fox Bend. To the Post, These type of remarks are only powerful if the administration and the RaunerS decide the purposeful hurting of higher education is too much. Continually to fund a campaign account designed to hold hostage both social services and higher education is a choice for Raunerism… … and where Mr. Cross isn’t even remotely wrong, it’s the RaunerS that want those vital organs to fail. I wish Cross well. He’s not wrong. - Anonin-aint-easy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:35 am: It sucks but what are we supposed to do? We are going to need to make cuts and everyone is going to say “no you can’t cut us, we don’t have enough already, you are hurting the people of Illinois” There just going to have to accept that some money is better then none, which is what will happen if we don’t get a budget. We don’t have the revenue coming in like before and we can’t make it up by just taxing more. - Annonin' - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:37 am: “It’s pretty dire,” admitted Tom Cross, who heads the Illinois Board of Higher Education and said administrators have reached a watershed.” The station must edited out the folo up where the reporter details results of FOIA on email/phone/smoke signal logs on TC implorin’ DopeyDuct to stop the F* on the colleges and universities….waitin’…..waitin’ - illinoised - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:39 am: Illinois higher education is on life support. Governor Rauner owns that, but I suspect he is proud of it. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:41 am: So, is everyone just on their own then? Till the land for your own food, hook up the oxen to get to town, herbal medications grown in your own backyard? Is Illinois going back to earlier times? Who needs a fancy college edy-cation? No money for that here! - say what - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:52 am: Of all the governors since Ryan, it’s pathetic to wish the guy who went to prison would be our current Governor. What will the state be left with in 2019, misspent opportunities doing a growing economy, loss of a professional workforce, mountains of unpaid bills that cripple the future, vast wastelands, what a tragic legacy. - DuPage - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 1:51 pm: The state universities and community colleges are being destroyed. It is of no concern to Rauner and his puppets. They are elected to represent their districts, but they are representing Rauner. - Flip357 - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 2:01 pm: The major issue is that professors and graduate students are quietly leaving the universities or opting for other institutions. These are the higher ed backbone; and now, there is long-term damage to the universities because there is no one to teach, and those that do are desperate to get out. Even with a budget, the damage is done, the minds are gone. For example, a bio professor at UofI went to another Big Ten school. They took seven figures worth of grants, a lab, and several grad students with them. They even told the Dean to not even bother making a counter offer. - striketoo - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 2:26 pm: Time to close Chicago State, Eastern and Western and redistribute their students and funding to the nine remaining state universities. Better nine healthy institutions than a dozen starving ones. The reduced overhead itself will go far to ensuring a healthy future for state higher education. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 2:34 pm: Oh - striketoo - ===Time to close Chicago State, Eastern and Western and redistribute their students and funding to the nine remaining state universities. Better nine healthy institutions than a dozen starving ones=== Read what you wrote… Close state universities, due to starving them, and they couldn’t handle being starved. Yikes. I’m embarrassed for you. Then… ===The reduced overhead itself will go far to ensuring a healthy future for state higher education.=== You think Rauner is going to run, on a real policy issue, on closing state universities due to their failure to withstand being starved to death. Rauner is trying not to run on owning ANYTHING, now you want Rauner to run on the postitves of closing state universities because they couldn’t handle being starved to death? Take a nap. You need it. - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 3:16 pm: CSU should have been shut down decades ago. And I agree, either Western or Eastern should be closed. I’ll let the experts determine which one. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 3:19 pm: Why won’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State? Why didn’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State 3 years ago? Think on that, get back to all of us. - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 3:51 pm: OW, this isn’t about Rauner this is about the future of Illinois. We have the highest state and local tax burden in the nation and still can’t pay for what we have. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 3:54 pm: Oh - Ron - You want schools closed. You said so… “So… Why won’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State? Why didn’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State 3 years ago?” Again… “Think on that, get back to all of us.” - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:03 pm: Yes, I want schools closed. Especially under performing, underutilized schools. - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:04 pm: I wholly supported CPS in its closing of schools. My biggest issue was it didn’t close enough of them. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:06 pm: - Ron - Keep up. Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State? Why didn’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State 3 years ago?” Again… “Think on that, get back to all of us.” Well… that’s what’s posed to you… - Mama - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:08 pm: Closing public funded high education schools is just the beginning. Rauner wants to privatize everything in IL. It won’t reduce your taxes because you will still be paying for the services, it will just get rid of public servants & unions. - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:35 pm: Closing horrible institutions that provide nothing but cost a lot is a good thing. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 4:45 pm: - Ron - “Why won’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State? Why didn’t Rauner run on closing Eastern, Western, Chicago State 3 years ago?” Why - Ron -… you can read, why won’t you answer? - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 5:01 pm: I don’t care about Rauner, I care about wasting taxpayer money on horrible institutions. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 5:04 pm: Then - Ron - ===I don’t care about Rauner, I care about wasting taxpayer money on horrible institutions.=== This makes you a troll, ignoring the realities, just commenting like an angry person on a porch yelling at clouds. Thanks for exposing that you really don’t add to discussions, don’t care about truths it arguments, you want those precious clouds to yell at… to make yourself feel better. Thanks. - Ron - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 5:26 pm: Rauner has nothing to do with CSU, the decades of corruption there and the unknown wasted $s. Time to end it. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 5:27 pm: Don’t feed the admitted Troll… - striketoo - Tuesday, May 23, 17 @ 11:12 pm: Everyone seems to agree we need to cut state spending, but when a concrete suggestion such as downsizing our twelve state universities to a more manageable nine is made, the knives come out. My suggestion is to take the money currently expended on the 12 and redistribute it along with the closed institution’s students to the remaining nine minus their overhead which would be a saving. Would someone explain why these three schools are sacred? - Arthur Andersen, Insomniac - Wednesday, May 24, 17 @ 3:48 am: OW, I support closing Chicago State with or without a budget/ more revenue and have held this position since Quinn was Governor. My position is based on insufficient student success, Emil Jones’ undue influence upon operations and hiring, and critically bad fiscal management. What does that make me, a troll? With all due respect, bud, you’re losing this argument. Rauner the candidate did not support closing it but recognized the problems. Now if the fix is “Paul Vallas” that’s no fix. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 17 @ 7:04 am: ===What does that make me, a troll?=== No. Did you read the exchange? I asked why Rauner won’t, and didn’t. I did that to make the point, like many times with - Ron -, ignoring why something isn’t happening is of no concern for - Ron -, but what is of concern of - Ron - is the opportunity to yell or say something in a drive-by that really isn’t adding. I know you know why Rauner didn’t and won’t run on closing state universities. While you advocate maybe (a) certain school(s) close(s), you also know a candidate won’t run on closing any state university, let alone more than one. The reason for the squeeze seems to get schools to close? Ok, then why not run on that? Why not stand up and say “I want Eastern, Western, Chicago State… all closed” ===I don’t care about Rauner, I care about wasting taxpayer money on horrible institutions.=== Rauner is the governor. - Ron - wants school(s) closed. Rauner won’t say that’s his goal, but - Ron - doesn’t care about that, or what is happening, - Ron - wants to vent. It’s pensions, the constitution, state employees, universities… It’s constantly reminding - Ron - that his venting, isn’t a clear look at the realities, it’s constant drive-bys refusing to look beyond those drive-bys. I don’t think you’re like that at all. I’m confused as to why you would want to be lumped with - Ron - Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.