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* Tribune…
City Colleges of Chicago is laying off 120 employees, part of larger cuts planned in response to the prolonged state budget crisis.
Chancellor Juan Salgado announced the cuts Wednesday to outline priorities for his spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Reductions also will include 10 percent pay cuts for senior leadership. City Colleges also plans to sell the district headquarters at 226 W. Jackson Blvd. and move administrative staff to the Kennedy-King College in Englewood and Dawson Technical Institute in Bronzeville. […]
The layoffs come at a time when City Colleges has experienced a significant decline in enrollment and what administration officials have called an unprecedented state budget shortfall of $70 million in the last two years alone. The system has about 90,000 students at seven colleges and five satellite locations.
* Charleston newspaper…
Eastern Illinois University’s president announced a “hard freeze” on purchases effective immediately Thursday.
In a memo, David Glassman told account managers, P-Card holders, and OfficeMax users that he is implementing a temporary freeze on “all purchases.”
Last year, there was a freeze implemented on many purchases at the university, including things like travel expenses and non-instructional capital equipment purchases. This time around, the freeze has “stronger” and more definitive language to better rein in university expenditures, said Paul McCann, vice president for business affairs.
He said Thursday’s halt has been implemented to set more rigid control over cash outflow.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:25 am
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===n a memo, David Glassman told account managers, P-Card holders, and OfficeMax users that he is implementing a temporary freeze on “all purchases===
When Eastern Illinois University closes, Diana and Bruce Rauner can tell Charleston it was a business decision and Charleston, not unlike social service organizations that signed contracts with Bruce’s Administration..
… made a mistake…
… trusting Diana and Bruce Rauner.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:31 am
When EIU lost 23% of its student body between 2010-2014 because of mismanagement…….losing roughly $25 mil a year in tuition alone…….
Comment by Piece of Work Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:35 am
Good thing the GOP representative from Charleston supports Governor Junk Bond.
Comment by ILGOV2018 Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:37 am
===When EIU lost 23% of its student body between 2010-2014 because of mismanagement…….losing roughly $25 mil a year in tuition alone…….===
lol… and yet funding higher ed well below the required funding levels to allow paper clips to be bought, purposely squeezing the beast… that’s on “years of… ”
That’s pathetic to the honest reality of Rauner.
I know, “You know”, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:38 am
People seem to forget this state has not had a strong budget in 20 years this problem is not Rauners fault if anything I say It’s Madigan’s fault for pushing a revamped version of a broke budget
Comment by Anon Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:42 am
The only level headed thing left is for dems to give reps what they want and let them take ownership. If it works great but if the people are not happy, vote dem.
Comment by Iron Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:42 am
Let’s not forget all the business owners and the community as a whole who will be negatively impacted by schools losing enrollment. It’s a whole lot more than colleges closing or losing. Everyone loses.
Comment by AnonymousOne Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:53 am
Anon at 9:42am
Governor Rauner failed, just like he said former Governor Quinn failed. He is the CEO and he should take the blame for his nonsensical Turnaround Agenda. He is the reason the debt has ballooned, he is the reason places of higher learning are being gutted, he is the reason there is no compromise, cuz he doesn’t want compromise.
Governors own, he said it, not me. His own words. Ask OW he will back this up.
Comment by ILGOV2018 Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:56 am
Job creators get excited by lack of vocational and continuing education opportunities.
Good for the economy.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:01 am
“City Colleges also plans to sell the district headquarters at 226 W. Jackson Blvd. and move administrative staff to the Kennedy-King College in Englewood and Dawson Technical Institute in Bronzeville”
Shouldn’t this have been done a long time ago to conserve money and keep the administration close to where the actual education work is done? It pisses me mightily that this happens because of nuclear war in Springfield. Lots of collateral damage in wars.
Comment by Lurking MBA Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:01 am
Like Chicago State University, the City Colleges of Chicago has been a state of steady decline for years. One point of commonality at both institutions was Wayne Watson, who was the target of justified criticism and costly lawsuits for his hiring political cronies and engaging in misconduct. The political graft has been well documented. Watson’s successor, Cheryl Hyman, another clout hire, was unqualified for her post.
Kudos to Salgado for trying to right the ship.
Comment by Retired Educator Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:03 am
“I’ve been successful at everything I’ve done in my career.”
“I’ve never been happier in my life.”
Don’t those two statements reveal Bruce Rauner’s real plan?
#winning
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:06 am
Love all the pontification on EIU. I’ve been going to their campus for more than 35 years. The decline is due to complete mismanagement that was years in the making.
Comment by Downstate Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:10 am
Imagine revenues of $25 million a year for 4-5 years and that is tuition only. Room and board, book rental, spending money in the community, etc. This demise started in the last decade and continues. Rauner wasn’t guv in 2008 or 2010 or 2012 or 2014.
Comment by Piece of Work Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:10 am
The failures at the City Colleges are attributable more to the 5th Floor of Chicago’s City Hall than to the Governor’s Mansion. Unlike every other community college district, the Board of Trustees at the City Colleges of Chicago are unelected. The board is composed of mayoral appointees.
The former chancellor had made some questionable six figure salary hires under “a friends and family” plan.
Comment by Retired Educator Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:11 am
Anon @ 9:42am
Get back to work, Governor.
Comment by UISer Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:13 am
Wow, Downstate, you must have a lot of college credits.
Maybe time to graduate.
Comment by Blue Bayou Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:14 am
===This demise started in the last decade…===
So you continually ignore, flat out refuse to see the purposeful squeezing of the beast, so bad that Rauner has state university presidentS (SIU’s recently in a video) say “we are staying open”… as the state… as Bruce Rauner… refuses to fully fund higher ed.
That speaks volumes to not fully grasping things. Again.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:17 am
Wasn’t it Leader Radogno who characterized the willful destruction of Illinois as “squeeze the beast”?
Comment by Nick Name Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:18 am
Blue Bayou
Great point!!!
First visit to EIU was as a delegate for Boy’s State. During college, I visited friends who were attending. Since then, I’ve been a guest speaker on campus many times.
Comment by Downstate Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:18 am
@Lurking MBA: Under a prior Chancellor, the entire City Colleges central administration had its offices on one floor at Loop College (later renamed for Harold Washington). The administrative bloat expanded to occupy a fourteen story office building. Enough!
Comment by Enough already! Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:24 am
@Downstate:
Slightly off topic:
American Legion programs such as Boys’ State and Girls’ State are at risk due to a lack of high school students willing to participate in the week long sessions. The Legionnaires are having a difficult time recruiting students. As you stated, Eastern Illinois University is the customary campus for Boys’ State in Illinois.
Comment by W Flag Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:32 am
Here, I think, is the saddest part: eliminating or degrading public institutions will not save you any money. Private universities will absorb even more of your tax money than public ones. They already do. Eliminating the public options will only ensure that this gets way more expensive.
Comment by JPC Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:48 am
Want to save some money?
Release ALL non-violent drug offenders from the prisons.
Comment by Mike Cirrincione Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:50 am
EIU was on the downward path before the Rauner administration. In came the Rauner administration and their journey to the bottom just got a little faster.
Comment by California Guy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:55 am
PoW:
He may not have started it but he certainly is finishing it.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:04 am
More attention should be paid to the squeezing the beast angle. Rauner knew from day 1 he was unlikely to get another term. When you combine that with wanting seismic, not incremental change, it explains a lot.
PS to Wordslinger - yes, Reagan squeezed the beast - Stockman said as much when he resigned in protest. They were happy to run up deficits on defense spending because that was a priority, but the deficits had the silver lining of crowding out new social spending initiatives. When Karen Lewis protests the interest CPS is paying on loans, she’s talking about the same thing - the taxpayer well is drying up - she, like Madigan, would prefer the pressure of school closings to kicking a can, especially if teachers pay the brunt of the costs.
Comment by lake county democrat Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:05 am
Demo, your boys pushed the boulder 80 yards down a 100 yard hill.
Comment by PoW Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:33 am
- Piece of Work - continues to flat out ignore the purposeful squeezing of the beast, the fact that Rauner has refused to fully fund higher ed, and is destroying universities by doing so.
I know, “YOU know”…
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:36 am
Cute quips Willy. Makes my Friday.
Comment by PoW Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:40 am
City Colleges has had a steady decline but the big drop in enrollment happened in FY2015:
http://www.ccc.edu/menu/Documents/CCC%20FY%202015%20Statistical%20Digest%20(Revised%206-24-2016).pdf
What happened in 2015? And before you say what I think you’re gonna say, FY2015 numbers include enrollment from Summer and Fall 2014.
Comment by City Zen Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:56 am
“Hard Freeze”? Does that include gas, water, electricity? TP, Soap, paper towels for the dorms? Telephones, computers, internet, paper, printers, etc. ? Maintenance and repairs? Air conditioning and heat? If there is not enough money to keep the heat on next winter, you will indeed have a “Hard Freeze”. Rauner will blame everyone else when you have to shut down.
Comment by DuPage Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 11:58 am
Yeah that email came to my inbox yesterday. And the governor is the one who vetoed the bills that would have fully funded higher ed. Governors own. Nice try pathetic people on this thread.
I will generally agree with the mismanagement statement here at EIU before Glassman. The prior president left us with a terrible structural fiscal deficit. I liked him personally but he refused to make almost every major decision that needed to be made in his last two years as president. However, we have good management now and this essentially screwed us just as we were getting back on our feet.
I mean you have the usual faculty folks who complain about all of these things we have to do but you’ll never get them to face the music. My favorite was when they “loaned” us money to keep the doors open by forgoing a pay increase a couple of years ago and then patted themselves on the back for doing so. The self-congratulations when the rest of us hadn’t had raises in years was sickening. And then the stopgap came through almost immediately and they got their raises anyway thus actually causing us more fiscal pain in the process.
There is a wreck coming on that end of things on campus and I’m glad I won’t be hear to see it. This administration has tried to tighten that fiscal end up the last couple of years and the faculty refuse to agree to anything, not even deleting majors that have no students. The patience of Glassman in dealing with these folks has been amazing. Financial exigency will probably be required followed by some faculty layoffs. And this time it won’t be upper management’s fault at all.
Comment by Chucktownian Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:07 pm
Chuck, what is the current enrollment at EIU?
Comment by PoW Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:27 pm
=I will generally agree with the mismanagement statement here at EIU before Glassman. The prior president left us with a terrible structural fiscal deficit. I liked him personally but he refused to make almost every major decision that needed to be made in his last two years as president. However, we have good management now and this essentially screwed us just as we were getting back on our feet.=
My thoughts exactly. Glassman has made the necessary changes and was really starting to right the ship. The lack of state funds these last 2 or 3 years is just punching more holes in the hull. The past holes have been plugged and the water was being bailed, but Rauner’s starve-the-beast ploy has caused more damage in 2 years than all the past mismanagement combined.
Comment by MSIX Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:30 pm
===what is the current enrollment at EIU?===
You mean with parents, counsellors and students seeing Rauner isn’t funding EIU?
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:30 pm
@City Zen: Former Chancellor Cheryl “Reinvention” Hyman pushed a wildly unpopular plan that would centralize specific majors on individual campuses (there are seven campuses in the city and a few satellite locations) and many students objected to commuting on shuttle buses to go to classes at distant locations.
Comment by Retired Educator Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:42 pm
@City Zen: So, that plan to make the students travel all across the city to pursue their majors was forced upon the City Colleges in 2015 and enrollment began to tank for that reason as well.
Comment by Retired Educator Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:45 pm
Willy, were you this outraged from 2010-14 when severe problems were happening? Were you calling your rep and senator? Writing editorials in the Charleston newspaper? Barking at MJM? Calling your buddy Edgar, who hails from Charleston?
Have you ever been to Charleston IL?
Comment by PoW Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:45 pm
===Have you ever been to Charleston IL?===
I’ve been to Charleston, SC.
The beaches, the golf.
“Have you ever been to Charleston IL?”
I know, “You know!”… You’ve been to Charleston more than any living human that ever graced this planet.
“Have you ever been to Charleston IL?”
I have, I have been there. Recently too.
What’s your point in that… exactly?
===were you this outraged from 2010-14 when severe problems were happening?===
Yes.
===Were you calling your rep and senator?===
I’ll say I was engaged.
===Writing editorials in the Charleston newspaper?===
While I didn’t, my concern for the town, I can measure my… engagement.
===Barking at MJM? Calling your buddy Edgar, who hails from Charleston?===
At no time during that window was EIU or any university starved like this. If they were, I’m positive, I woulda beefed.
No schools were starved until Rauner.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:53 pm
You were “engaged” Yep, I believe that one. I bet you were right on top of that enrollment drop after the spring semester of 2011. Just like you were with Chicago State and SIU!!
LOL
You kill me.
Comment by PoW Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:57 pm
===You were “engaged” Yep, I believe that one.===
Do or don’t. I have nothing to prove to you, as you can’t talk honesty to Rauner destroying higher ed.
As your name says, you’re a piece of work.
“YOU know”, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:02 pm
EIU Fall Enrollment numbers: https://www.eiu.edu/ir/tenth_day_enrollment.php
2008 = 12,040
2010 = 11,360
2012 = 10,417 8% drop
2014 = 8,913 15% drop
2016 = 7,415 17% drop
Year 4 into the tax hike years and still a huge drop in enrollment.
Thanks, Retired. I totally forgot about that system-wide change.
Comment by City Zen Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:04 pm
PoW, stick to the posts or you’ll be banned. Last warning.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:05 pm
There was a time when David Jorns was President that there were so many kids in the dorms that they even moved beds and furniture into the lounges. The place was that full. Late 90`s.
Comment by George Malone Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:07 pm
==Demo, your boys==
My boys are teenagers so I’m not sure they had anything to do with it.
Anyway, my point is, and has been, that we shouldn’t be having these discussions about universities because they were driven to financial disaster by the lack of funding for the past 2 1/2 years. Is the past important? Yep. But it isn’t to blame for the current problem.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:13 pm
Actually the high enrollment point was in 2007 at 12,500. I don’t have time for back and forth with people who are pieces of anything, really.
Comment by Chucktownian Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:41 pm