Students, faculty and other community members have a series of opportunities to offer their input on budgetary issues to President Randy Dunn and other SIU administrators.

The first of three town hall meetings will be from 9 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the second and third will be from 2 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. All three will take place in the Student Center Auditorium.

The town hall meetings will allow for open-forum discussion about the Illinois budget, its potential effects on SIU and the current preparatory measures the university is taking to mitigate prospective cuts, University Spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said.

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This comes in the wake of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budgetary cuts to social services, including higher education. If passed, Illinois universities would lose $387 million of state appropriations, which amounts to a $62 million reduction from the university system, of which $44 million would be cut from the Carbondale campus. 

As a result, the university sent notices asking various units on campus to envision scenarios in which they lose half of their state funding and hiring freezes come into effect in certain departments, including non-tenure track faculty. 

Audience members can offer comments and ideas to Dunn and various members of the 25 person budget committee.

All three meetings will follow the same format. The chancellor’s Executive Planning and Budget Committee is offering the assorted times to accommodate people’s schedules, Goldsmith said.

A video of the first town hall will be posted to chancellor.siu.edu by 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Sam Beard can be reached at [email protected]