SIU may see $34 million cut from budget
Daily Egyptian file photo
October 5, 2016
The university is preparing for another round of cuts if a state budget is not passed for the fiscal year.
An email sent last week to faculty members from the Faculty Association obtained by the Daily Egyptian referenced a proposal to cut an additional $34 million from SIU’s budget, which would cause another 10 percent cut to academic affairs.
University spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said those numbers make up one of multiple scenarios being considered depending on when the university receives funding from the state and how much is allocated.
Advertisement
Last fiscal year, SIU received about 80 percent of the funding it was supposed to get from the state, thanks to a couple partial stop-gap budgets.
At the SIU Board of Trustees meeting Sept. 8 in Edwardsville, SIU President Randy Dunn said while the university system received $106 million for fiscal year 2016 through June’s stopgap budget, SIU will struggle to get through FY17 if it doesn’t see any more state appropriations.
If a $34 million cut is implemented, there will likely be another round of job cuts, said Dave Johnson, president of the Faculty Association, which represents tenured and tenure-track faculty.
MORE: Layoffs, resignations, retirements at SIU cause drop in faculty
Johnson said people need to start speaking up to state legislators and vote for those who support higher education.
“What’s a state university if the state doesn’t fund it?” he said.
Johnson said morale among faculty and staff at SIU, like that at many public universities in Illinois, is low.
Advertisement*
“The administration needs to reassure faculty and students that they’re doing everything they can to protect the most important thing we do at this university, which is teaching,” he said.
Campus editor Anna Spoerre can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @annaspoerre.
To stay up to date with all your SIU news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
Advertisement
Lisa • Oct 6, 2016 at 6:48 pm
The fact that no one has said anything here seems to imply that we have all given up! I hope that is not true.
i heard in the news today that if everything came to a stop right now, no more late penalties or interest paid on money borrowed by the state, each person would owe over $45,500 to get us out of a mess that has been coming for generations. That’s incredible! That that is more than the median income for much of, maybe all of, Southern Illinois is beyond sad. The budget is being held hostage and we have been beaten down and in fear for our jobs and the value of our homes, most people’s most valuable asset, for so long it can leave us all feeling hopeless, but I refuse to be hopeless! I am incredulous and want to know if ther are others who want to standup and say they are too! If you feel we should expect more from our elected officials, let’s say so! Let’s say we value higher education, not because we may be educators, but because it is important! It’s important to SIU but it’s also important to our entire region. Don’t go quietly Illinois! Don’t give up! Hold these people accountable to the job we elected them to do not the complete stop they’ve created.
We need a solution, sure, but it can’t be everything all at once. That approach causes stale mates and costs more in the long run. Let’s find a way, almost surely a painful way, out, but make it reasonable so everyone doesn’t feel they have to leave or give up. Surely there is a better answer than that! If we keep down this road there’s nothing left but despair, lower property values, fewer jobs and fewer people that can create jobs.