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Sign of the times?

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Illinois

* From a press release…

Presidents and Board of Trustee chairs representing each of Illinois’ nine public universities met face-to-face with top legislative leaders Tuesday to urge support for higher education funding in the state’s fiscal 2016 budget.

University of Illinois President Timothy L. Killeen arranged the afternoon of meetings to make the case that proposed funding reductions for public universities would damage a key engine for the state’s economic growth and competitiveness.

“We understand the difficult decisions that legislators face this spring to put Illinois on the road to recovery,” Killeen said. “But investing in public universities is an investment in solutions – and in the future of our state.”

Public universities are large-scale incubators of the human capital that is essential to drive progress, presidents and board chairs said during a series of meetings with House Speaker Michael Madigan; Senate President John Cullerton; House Republican Leader Jim Durkin; Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno; Michael Zolnierowicz, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s chief of staff; and Beth Purvis, the governor’s chief education advisor.

Notice anybody missing?

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 10:56 am

Comments

It my mind, it would be someone speaking for the students.

Too many public colleges and universities are top heavy with administrators. Make the cuts begin there.

Comment by Under Further Review Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 10:59 am
Rich - no offense, but this is like the end of the “Cheers” episode when Cliff appeared on Jeopardy.

“Who are two people that have never been in my kitchen?”

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:00 am
Old school;

Meet with the Committeeman, it’s a “yes”

Meet with the Alderman/Ward Secretary, it’s a “no”

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:02 am
Honestly, no. What am I not getting?

Comment by Diamond Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:08 am
James Meeks?

Now that you mention it, where HAS he been?

Comment by Two Bags of Pretzels Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:09 am
The governor has been on the milk carton for a while now. Odd timing for that.

Maybe his playoff beard didn’t grow out so good.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:13 am
Donna Aguin (sp?). Big contract, MIA.

Comment by The Way I See It Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:17 am
The governor’s schedule has been devoid of the Tournaround Agenda tour for a while. If he could make time for a doggy playdate with Rich Miller, surely he could spare a couple minutes for the state’s university presidents.

Comment by Tournaround Agenda Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:19 am
Maybe the schools should start charging more for out of state tuition, and increase the number of in-state applicants. In particular, the U of I has lost it’s purpose.

Comment by John Parnell Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:20 am
It doesn’t look like anyone from the IBHE was there.

Comment by G'Kar Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:20 am
“Maybe the schools should start charging more for out of state tuition,” Have you looked at home much UofI charges out of state students?

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:23 am
===Maybe the schools should start charging more for out of state tuition, and increase the number of in-state applicants. In particular, the U of I has lost it’s purpose. ===

I’ve got news for you. If the state schools charge more for out of state tuition, increasing the number of in-state applicants is not going to be a priority.

Comment by GraduatedCollegeStudent Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:24 am
==Notice anybody missing?==

That would be the Governor.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:33 am
“Maybe the schools should start charging more for out of state tuition,” Out of state students already pay nearly 50% more than in-state students. (Asking without snark) Were you proposing making that difference even larger?

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:36 am
Governor is missing. Nuding would be another

Comment by Moderate REpub Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:36 am
fwiw, UIUC currently shows their enrollment as 36% from out of state. 14999 of 41497 students are from outside Illinois. For undergrads only, 7848 of 30948 students are from outside Illinois.

http://dmi.illinois.edu/stuenr/abstracts/SP15_ten.htm

As many have pointed out, there has also been a large increase in the number of foreign students enrolling in the past decade.

http://dmi.illinois.edu/stuenr/abstracts/SP15_ten.htm

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:38 am
I see Rauner, the students, and the tax payers all as being missing.

Comment by Hit or Miss Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 11:50 am
I see no one from the federal government to discuss what role easy federal money has done to drive costs up. As long as there are thick purse songs from DC to universities (direct or indirect through students) there’s no incentive to keep costs in check.

Oh, and the students.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 12:12 pm
Meet with the Committeeman (Governor), it’s a “yes”

Meet with the Alderman/Ward Secretary (Staff), it’s a “no”

If Rauner was looking to help, he’d been there.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 12:15 pm
On the Tuesday after Memorial Day?

Maybe the Governor was still in The Hamptons.

Comment by crazybleedingheart Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 12:16 pm
Perhaps the U of I president should reach out to the president of Dartmouth to see if he can get on the governor’s calendar.

Comment by Juvenal Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 12:20 pm
“The administrators”

Comment by Filmmaker Professor Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 12:35 pm
It doesn’t sound like Killeen talked about the state paying for his country club memberships or his private driver or the 30 percent increase in administrative positions in the past decade while enrollment has remained flat. Significant cuts though at Urbana would likely cause them to increasing foreign student enrollment. They can and will pay top dollar.

Comment by Muscular Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 1:02 pm
These places are operating on fumes. Need to merge with community colleges to get revenue.

Comment by Chad Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 1:04 pm
community colleges have lots and lots of problems. Trib doing a good job hitting on DuPage and moving into the entire community college system to make reforms.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 1:14 pm
Where are the faculty?

Illinois universities are top heavy. Bet those administrators and Board presidents aren’t calling for cuts to administration.

Comment by Left Leaner Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:00 pm
The Gov and the Board of Higher Ed are missing.

Comment by Mama Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:16 pm
Obviously the Governor, though they might at least have included the Budget Director.

Students are absent too, but they’ve been absent for several decades and counting.

Comment by David Starrett Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:24 pm
I think I’ll say “Waldo” just to say I played.

At first blush, I thought Meeks.

Comment by A guy Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:25 pm
The universities don’t want IBHE there. Ethics issues are about to blow up there for the third time in a row.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:25 pm
If Meeks had been at the meeting of university peeps, it would have been a sign that he needed to be educated as to what his job is.

Comment by Wordslinger Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 2:31 pm
Meeks is a competitor for GRF Ed. funding. I’d be surprised if the universities permitted his inclusion. They like everything to be about them.

Where the hell was ISAC?

Comment by David Starrett Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 3:26 pm
How about any of the approp chairs? They met with the tops but not those supposedly charged with drafting the bills. Not surprising to us in Springpatch but might surprise outsiders. (To the comment above, ISAC’s not a bad choice either–has a student orientation rather than school-based, so they might fill some gaps In that conversation. But I’d be surprised if that’s who Rich meant.)

Comment by Trying to Read the Entrails Wednesday, May 27, 15 @ 6:54 pm
I wonder if ways to cut the 60% of the UIUC budget spent on non-instructional expenditures was discussed. Somehow, I think not.

Comment by Arizona Bob Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 7:50 am