Chicago State and their Budget Issues

[talksalot]

Thought I'd open a new thread to track this issue. 


http://progressillinois.com/news/content/2016/01/19/illinois-budget-impasse-impacting-higher-education-enrollment

Chicago Tribune coverage

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-higher-education-funding-20160119-story.html

Official Chicago State Notification from their President (posted on their website)

http://www.csu.edu/announcements/documents/Memorandum_CSU_Budget_Challenges.pdf

[agibson]

I've been hearing about this on the local news.  Sounds very serious for Chicago State.  Hard to know how much might be moderate political posturing, and how much might be a real chance of e.g. shutting down in March.  If you really had to suspend classes, it would presumably have significant ripple effects for years.

Hard not to see it as tremendously irresponsible governing in the state of Illinois.  It seems they've given up on one year's budget for the state, and are instead thinking about the next.

[agibson]

The budget fiasco affects my old high school in Aurora, as well, as their money comes from the Board of Higher Education.  In some ways, they look more like a research university (e.g. Champaign-Urbana/UIUC/Illinois) and less like Chicago State and have some resources of their own, non-state grants, etc. to help them get through.  Still, originally, they thought there money would run out in December.  They've managed, with some needed legislation passed to allow them to spend e.g. student fees, but no state funding AFAIK, to stretch that date to... the end of March, last I heard.

[swiftmutiny]

This has also been tough on Chicagoland community colleges, especially the ones in less wealthy neighborhoods. Illinois is a hot mess, to be sure.

[crusaderjoe]

What I find interesting is that the State of Illinois has a medical marijuana pilot program in place currently.  I would imagine that this program could produce a huge amount of income if properly supported.  Currently, the State is deciding whether to expand its program to include eight other qualifying conditions, including autism and PTSD.  In fact, I think if autism is accepted, Illinois would be the first state to allow medical marijuana for that diagnosis.

It will be interesting to see whether the program is in fact expanded.  You would think that by expanding the program by allowing the additional eligible conditions, the State would have a greater ability to earn income, not to mention help more people who choose to go that route medically. 

[talksalot]

My reading of the issue is that ... the State has the money... but it can't be appropriated until they have a budget.  The Governor is refusing to sign any budget that isn't balanced.  The Legislature is not interested in passing a balanced budget.

The first thing that I heard about was several months ago, was all of the social service agencies that rely on state funding (they did some sort of temporary authorization to get that handled); then it went down to the Lottery winners not getting their money.... and it's now trickling down...

some colleges in Pennsylvania reported the same issue where they accepted students and their financial aid was supplemented by State money.  They have no state approved budget and so the schools are not getting the money there either....

It's a mess!

[valporun]

The biggest mess comes from pork in a lot of the bills that did become law. Money went to infrastructure and various other projects that weren't essential to safe roads, mental health, school safety, and real needs, not "What have you done for me lately" projects like sports arenas built for communities that didn't want them or other infrastructure built to "honor" a sitting legislative member who was retiring after 30+ years of doing nothing for their community besides holding a governmental seat they gathered paychecks from.

[vu84v2]

There is no greater example of pork in Illinois than the stadium that was built in Emil Jones' honor at Chicago State.

[usc4valpo]

DePaul's new arena at McCormick Place is an excellent example of waste.

[covufan]

Chicago State lays off all their employees

It doesn't say when the layoff takes effect and I'm not sure what this means for the rest of their basketball season, but man is this sad to see.

[agibson]

Chicago State lays off all their employees

From the article,
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/02/26/chicago-state-university-sends-layoff-notices-to-all-employees/
it's in part a formality. They need to give employees two months notice if they want to lay them off. So, they seem to be signaling that they may need to lay (a bunch?) of people off in two months, and this gives them the flexibility to do it. Even the university president got a notice.

Also per the article, they've canceled spring break, so that puts the end of the semester about two months from now: it sounds like they'll be able to complete the spring semester, if on an accelerated schedule.

It sounds like they don't at all plan to shut down, and plan at least some kind of a summer session, even in the worst funding scenarios.

The basketball team can presumably finish their season.

If the state comes through with a budget or some funding, hopefully all layoffs can still be avoided, and summer school, next fall, etc. can continue more or less as usual.

A tragedy. A disaster of state governance.

I wonder which of the other eight public universities in Illinois is next worst off?

[covufan]

I wonder which of the other eight public universities in Illinois is next worst off?

Most likely one of the directional U's.  I'm guessing that Illinois (Champaign) and UIC are safe, for now.

[usc4valpo]

4500 students and 900 employees. That is a 5 to 1 ratio, which I think is very low. I would like think they can find ways to be a little more efficient to run this university.

Stories like this are driving and folks and businesses from Illinois (and particularly Chicago) to Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. It is a shame.

[historyman]

I wonder which of the other eight public universities in Illinois is next worst off?

Most likely one of the directional U's.  I'm guessing that Illinois (Champaign) and UIC are safe, for now.

From the news items I've heard it appears that Western Illinois is more dependent on state funds than the other Illinois universities. Chicago State was by far the most dependent on state funds.

[sliman]

I seem to recall that Eastern Illinois made statements similar to those expressed at Western Illinois in the past.  Read somewhere that University of Illinois and Illinois State rely less on state funding than the other state schools.  I wonder about Northeastern Illinois, the one-time Mid-Con foe that dropped sports.  Perhaps limiting co-curricular activities has been helpful in terms of budget.

[agibson]

4500 students and 900 employees. That is a 5 to 1 ratio, which I think is very low. I would like think they can find ways to be a little more efficient to run this university.

When recruiting students you might quote the number of faculty. I have very little idea about employees. Anyone know Valpo's number? Where would you look up such a thing? Takes a fair few people to keep the lights on, I'd guess.

[usc4valpo]

agibson - If you look at students vs employees, I am sure Valpo is higher than a 5 to 1 ratio. That is an inefficient operation and Chicago State University does not have the cash to support that.

Also, at 4500 students, has the enrollment there dropped in the past couple of decades?

[talksalot]

Chicago State University from WiKiPedia

Established   September 2, 1867
Endowment   $3,763,212
President   Thomas J. Calhoun
Academic staff  470
Students   4,767 [1]
Undergraduates   3,462
Postgraduates   1,305

The school struggled in the 1980s with flat enrollments, declining state budgets, and falling graduation rates. However, in the early 1990s President Dolores Cross helped introduce a sharp increase in enrollment and retention. She urged faculty to personally call advisees and students who might be having problems. Enrollment rose 40%, nearing 10,000. The Chicago Tribune dubbed Chicago State "Success U."[10]


21st Century: 2000–present
Elnora Daniel became President in 1998 and she worked to increase federal and state funding and to create new programs. An Honor's College was established in 2003 and a College of Pharmacy in 2007. Daniel also oversaw the first doctoral program at CSU in Educational Leadership. The program produced its first graduates in 2009. Special funds were procured to finance a textbook buying program for African schools and two new buildings: the University Library and the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center.

Controversies

The school has in the past been the target of controversies. After university president Elnora Daniel resigned under allegations of unjustified spending, the board of trustees began a search for her replacement. All but two of the faculty members who served on the search committee resigned in protest feeling their concerns were not addressed. Part of their concerns include a graduation rate of only 16.2% (as of 2007) and inadequate infrastructure.  On April 29, 2009, the board of trustees appointed retiring City Colleges of Chicago chancellor Wayne Watson as Chicago State's new president. The decision was protested by several students and faculty, who openly booed the announcement, claiming that Watson's appointment was motivated by political considerations rather than the good of the students and faculty.   These issues prompted the Higher Learning Commission, the school's accrediting agency, to express "grave" concerns regarding Chicago State's future and indicate that its accreditation might be in jeopardy.    However, under Watson's leadership, the school retained and extended its accreditation after the Commission's review.

In January 2014 the Chicago Tribune reported that the school's interim provost, Angela Henderson, was under investigation by the University of Illinois at Chicago for possible plagiarism of her dissertation.

During Watson's tenure, Chicago State University was named as a defendant in several high profile lawsuits in which whistleblower employees have alleged that they were subjected to retaliatory firings for exposing ethical misconduct on the part of the Watson administration. In one case, a jury awarded a substantial verdict, which totaled over $3 million.   A similar 2014 suit charged that Watson improperly hired and promoted administrators and engaged in an inappropriate romantic relationship with an employee.

On February 26, 2016, all 900 employees of Chicago State University received layoff notices in anticipation of inadequate funding.

[FWalum]

Thought this was interesting from that same WiKiPedia article

Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center

The Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose on-campus arena started on October 4, 2004 and completed in 2007. The arena hosts the Chicago State University Cougars basketball teams and replaces the Jacoby D. Dickens Athletic Center, which only had capacity to seat 2,500 persons. Among sporting events, the convocation center houses concerts, conferences, and special city-wide events. The convocation center is unique among Illinois university athletic projects, because Chicago State University did not have to raise any money for the project.

Maybe we should try to figure out how they did that. 

[vu72]

This sort of financial issue is exactly what keeps President Heckler awake at night.  This article says that "about one-third of all colleges and universities in the U.S. are on an unsustainable financial path". It specifically points to smaller schools with less than 5000 students.

This is why the current drive is focused on endowment.  Chicago State has a puny endowment and will more then likely close or be purchased by a for profit school of some sort.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-more-private-colleges-are-closing-2015-03-25