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Today’s number: $1,745.60

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Illinois

Over the past two years, Southern Illinois University administrators have spent more than $180,000 on in-house chartered airplane flights, according to data provided by the university’s Department of Aviation Management and Flight, which operates the service.

Two SIU-owned twin-engine planes are available for administrators’ business use. Since July 1, 2013, those planes have shuttled staffers on more than 130 flights to and from locales as close as Springfield and as far away as Houston, Texas.

The average cost of a round-trip flight totaled about $1,400. Flight data from July 2014 and June 2015 was not included in the information provided.

SIU spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said administrators try to balance potential time savings with increased cost when deciding whether or not to use the service, operated out of Southern Illinois Airport.

* The irony…

- A $1,745.60 charge for a round-trip flight on April 8, that brought SIU Executive Director of Governmental Affairs John Charles, and state Sens. Heather Steans and Mattie Hunter to a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing held at the Student Center, at which [SIU system President Randy Dunn] lobbied against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to slash 30 percent from higher-education budgets beginning July 1.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:41 am

Comments

Higher ed executives have always lived in a bubble, impervious to their comfortable excesses and perks. I’ve always believed we can
wring some real fat — not just symbolic fat — out of higher ed administration. Somehow, after all these years, Illinois has failed to do so.

Comment by NW Illinois Dem Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:44 am
…Rae Goldsmith said administrators try to balance potential time savings with increased cost…

Looks like they get an “F” on that, don’t they?

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:44 am
Isn’t the other irony that the Senate Dems posted a scathing report about waste, fraud and abuse within Illinois’s public higher education system?!

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:51 am
Unless something has changed or I misunderstand the program, the university would be spending this money anywho as it’s student pilots at the control who need the flight hours in order to graduate and earn their license.

Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:57 am
If these planes are part of their aviation program (which has a great national reputation), using student pilots as part of their training, then I have no problem with it. If they’re not…..why?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 11:59 am
Dirty Red

Now that would flip the story. Had a boss was a pilot it was the maintenance that is a killer on planes.

Comment by Mason born Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:01 pm
I’m so sick of hearing about flights.

I’m in the private sector, have to fly in the neighborhood of 20 times a year at company expense, average round trip is $1000-$1500. If it’s more than a 6-7 hour drive my boss wants me to fly so I’m not wasting valuable time behind the wheel.

Get over it, this is just another example of people seeing big numbers and not being willing to consider the math behind them.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:01 pm
I don’t mean to be snarky or condescending, but, this isn’t really all that newsworthy to me. I mean, can someone (besides Team Sleep who makes a point but is this really fraud, waste or abuse?) tell me what the big deal is about a university spending 1/10 of a percent of its total endowment on shuttling its people for business? I mean, it takes three hours to get to Springfield and then three hours to get back driving. So you lose a day of work in travel time for the shortest destination.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:04 pm
Be careful of tarnishing higher ed in the state w ith too broad a brush. I assure you EIU, WIU, et al do nothing of the sort. They are proudly different from U of I, Southern, Northern, etc. the strength of higher Ed in Illinois is its diversity of missions. EIU is cutting bone right now. Rather than flying to meetings they’ll be hitch hiking.
On a different note, who speaks for higher ed in the state? It used to be Stan Ikenberry, but that was long ago. And please don’t tell me IBHE pencil pushers speak for higher ed. I think the president’s have been cowed by the pols.

Comment by Scholar athlete Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:10 pm
No apostrophe please on that last “presidents.”

Comment by Scholar athlete Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:12 pm
$180k in two years. That is not that bad imo.

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:13 pm
Do Steans and Hunter have to report the flight on their D-2 as an in-kind contribution?

Comment by phocion Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:16 pm
Considering an hourly rate of pay for Exec’s and down time for Pols, plus benefit of students receiving top ‘flight’ instruction at a nationally recognized aviation program….
IMHO, not waste/fraud/abuse….not really newsworthy

Comment by northernwatersports Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:22 pm
So $90K a year and students get valuable training and flight time at a school that has one of the best, if not THE best, flight schools in the country? Where’s the controversy? Where’s the beef?

Comment by Deep South Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:23 pm
At one time SIU offered weekend classes at remote locations such as Great Lakes and instructors would fly in. I did not know they had students doing required flying hours. This seems to be a very good, efficient use of resources, as well as allowing SIU to offer these weekend degree programs. The exact opposite of waste, fraud or abuse.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:24 pm
Here’s the rub - at least for me:

We always hear about how important Amtrak is to Illinois and our college kids (at least the ones who live near and attend schools that are close to stations). Why couldn’t Senators Hunter and Steans have taken the Amtrak down to SIUE?! Yeah, it’s a long trip. But the trains have wifi (and food) and the trip would’ve allowed them to get work done. They could’ve taken staff along and done additional work on the train.

The other thing that I really believe would help in this situation is for Senator Steans to cut a check for the amount of the flight. She has the means to do so.

Sometimes it’s not just about cost.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:38 pm
As a frequent traveler to southern Illinois it has been my observation that you cannot easily get there from just about anywhere. And, as business people know, time is money. High level administrators are probably compensated (salary plus overhead) at more than $100 per hour, perhaps much more. A car ride to Lambert Field in St. Louis takes two to three hours; more time is consumed with wait time, delays, etc. If you do the math, local flights from nearby Marion probably make good economic sense, particularly when there are multiple passengers.

Comment by Keyser Soze Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:45 pm
FAR 61.89, General Limitations: Student Pilots, clearly states that students may not act as pilot-in-command (PIC) of an aircraft that is carrying a passenger. The student pilot certificate also states this in bold print. And the NTSB decisions interpreting the FARs repeatedly hold that a student pilot who acts as PIC and carries a passenger will have his or her certificate revoked because such an action is a serious violation.
Still need a licensed pilot on board. No money saved.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:46 pm
The SIU twin prop used to make near daily trip between the Carbondale campus and the Medical school in Springfield shuttling instructors back and forth. When there were empty seats, other state employees could hitch a ride for state business, which I did on occasion.

Comment by Rusty618 Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:54 pm
Scholar athlete - no, IBHE doesn’t really speak for higher ed in Illinois. The agency has lost nearly all institutional memory due to turnover of staff who have fled the agency thanks to incompetent and unethical leadership the last few years.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 12:54 pm
$180K over 2 years and I’m supposed to get all upset?

Heck, people are saying it’s crazy to talk about the Illinois State Museum, which costs over $4M/yr, 40 times as much, because that is so small compared to a $4B budget hole.

People who aren’t prepared to deal with a big problem tend to focus on trivialities because it lets them feel like they are doing something worthwhile, when really they aren’t.

Comment by Harry Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:00 pm
@12:46 =no money saved=

Of course they would have a pilot who is a flight instructor as pilot in command of the student pilot. Where they would save is where the student pilot has the instructor pilot with them anyway, even if the plane is empty. No extra spent.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:05 pm
$180,000 for 2 years is not a story on waste. This is what I call nitpicking witch-hunt.

Comment by Mama Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:19 pm
You could just about say the student pilot is the one paying for the flight.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:34 pm
The idea that Senator Steans would not have her Steans Family Foundation pick up the tab for her part of the trip, or for that matter Senator Steans herself seems kind of sad. I mean really she is one of the more wealthy members of the Illinois Senate.

Comment by Rod Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:44 pm
College of DuPage admins were abusing the school culinary program.

SIU admins could be abusing the school flight program. It could be ==aviators gonna aviate==.

The Southern should report more and find out.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 1:49 pm
This is really grasping at straws. How about all public employees use a horse and buggy from now on. I mean, we want to save the taxpayers money right?

Enough with these stories about using airplanes to travel. Get the freak over it already. People use planes to travel all the time for their job. I’d rather somebody get where they need to be quickly as opposed to wasting time in a car or on a train.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 2:13 pm
==$180,000 for 2 years is not a story on waste. This is what I call nitpicking witch-hunt.==

$90K/yr is the equivalent of re-instating the 5% tax rate on 120 working families making $60K per year. I’d rather have the money in their pockets than a wealthy, sheltered college administrator.

The “Good Friday Massacre” included many 6-figure cuts that did not get reinstated. Per the Trib: “Domestic violence shelters will lose $419,300 and a program for expectant parents will lose $225,900. In addition, the sickle cell center at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System faces a $500,000 funding cut…”

So is wealthy university administrator travel more important than expecting mothers? The most vulnerable? Money is money, folks. What one group receives is at a detriment to the other. Cause and effect.

If these admins cannot make the necessary arrangements to travel earlier/later during non-business hours, they are free to seek employment elsewhere. Something tells me that bluff will not be called and, if so, someone else will quickly step into place.

Comment by nixit71 Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 3:00 pm
Let’s say we have one SIUC admin travelling to Chicago for a meeting by car, that round trip is about 660 miles. Odds are this meeting last a few hours so doing the roundtrip drive on the same day as the meeting isn’t feasible, they’re going to need a hotel room. That means they also get per diem and have to pay for parking. If there is more than one person, you need more hotel rooms. Driving might still be a few dollars cheaper, but now you’ve cost these staff an extra day away from the office to save those few dollars.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 3:29 pm
I believe passengers are also paying a fee.

Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 3:55 pm
@Team Sleep

Oh, this is about blasting legislators. Well, we’re all in favor of that, right? Haha.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 4:02 pm
Take the subsidized Amtrak trains! Require it.

Comment by Let'sMovetoTexas Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 6:36 pm
Rusty618 - Is that the retired forensics lab guy up north now?

Comment by Sad Sack Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 8:44 pm
The new editorial leadership at The Southern has been trying to whip up scandal all over the place lately. And, while I appreciate that they are trying to step up their game, this is a poor reach. Some of those medical school administrators are likely teaching physicians who I would rather have back in the hospital quickly rather than driving I-55. The other uses seem perfectly reasonable. BTW, Amtrak does not go from Springfield to Carbondale. I wish it did.

Comment by dr. reason a. goodwin Wednesday, Jul 15, 15 @ 10:25 pm