More has been released about the layoffs and cuts the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees approved at their “emergency meeting” this week — and it’s a lot larger than some may have thought.
After interim university president Kristi Mindrup said at the meeting they were going to try to lay off as few people as possible after 35 people got the ax in June, we now know that another nearly 90 people will join them — 57 faculty members and 32 staff positions.
And that’s not all. The University says they will continue to operate the Quad Cities campus in Moline and serve students there, operations will be “streamlined.” WIU says there will be so-called “adjustments” to the programs on the campus that Mindrup came from, and that 16 faculty and staff positions will be moved to the Macomb campus next year.
According to the university, that’s in addition to those 35 job cuts already made, and these measures:
- A hiring suspension and spending freeze implemented on June 3
- Over 100 vacant positions eliminated from future budgets, including two vice president positions
- Department consolidation and restructuring in order to improve operational efficiencies
- Departmental operating budgets reductions
- Discontinuation of non-essential contractual agreements
- Increased efficiency through continued reductions in building operations
- Strategic reduction and realignment of student aid (Source: WIU)
Some faculty being laid off will teach one final year, while civil service employees got 90-day layoff notices.
“Each person affected by these changes has contributed positively to Western Illinois University’s mission,” said Mindrup, in a university news release. “Each individual takes great care in their work to educate and serve students and is woven into the fabric of our University. It is heartbreaking to come to this point in our institution’s path where we are at a crossroads with no choice but to make a significant financial shift for the ultimate sustainability of the institution.”
The union representing the faculty, the WIU Chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI Loca 4100), is less than happy.
“We are angry and deeply disappointed by this administration’s decision,” said Merrill Cole, union president, in its own news release. “Despite their lofty goals and compassionate rhetoric at Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Interim President Mindrup and her team have chosen to devastate futures, families, and communities rather than devise a real solution to address WIU’s fiscal challenges.”
This all comes as the university is dealing with continued declining enrollment and income, and cash flow problems that were outlined this week.
