University leaders are bracing for the deep funding cuts proposed in new Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Feb. 18 budget address, but are hopeful they won’t have to actually institute them.
Rauner’s recommendation to cut the state’s 2016 higher education budget by 31.5 percent would lead to a $209 million loss in the U. of I.’s general fund.
U. of I. President Bob Easter said leaders were working on contingency plans to address the proposed cuts, but that he and university leaders would continue to work with the governor and General Assembly to “make what we believe is a strong case to support the university programs that help lift our state.”
“It is important to note that this is the first step in the legislative budget process,” he said of the governor’s proposal. “At the same time, reality dictates that we immediately begin preparing for the impact if the Legislature ultimately approves a large-scale reduction in funding.”
Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise asked faculty and staff members to redouble efforts to find ways to reduce cost without affecting academic excellence.
“This is an opportunity for us to collectively re-examine and re-evaluate our priorities, from the department and unit level up through our central campus administrative and service structures,” Wise said in a campus massmail. “We must be even more diligent and creative in ways to reduce our administrative overhead and streamline our processes and practices. We must look for new ways to generate revenue and savings that can mitigate potential cuts and be reinvested in our campus.”
She said the campus already had a head start on such efforts, considering last year’s adoption of a long-term strategic plan, which sets forth as some of its goals stewarding current resources and generating new investment.
“We are committed to our plan and to identifying strategies that will enable us to remain competitive with our national peers,” she said.
That includes the proposal for the engineering-centered Urbana-based college of medicine, the funding of which depends on a partnership with Carle Health System, donations, federal research funds and tuition – but not state general revenue funds.
Easter said the key points of the university’s contingency plan priorities include protecting academic quality and research capabilities, retaining faculty and staff, and better leveraging the university to serve economic growth and other urgent needs.
He said the level of the cuts being proposed, if they are enacted, could severely damage the university’s ability to carry out those responsibilities.
“The university stewards its financial resources carefully and has weathered past funding reductions with its quality intact,” he said. “But we do not have the resources to overcome reductions of this magnitude without harm.”
Wise said Rauner already has touted the university as “one of the most valuable assets to our state,” which she said gives her hope.
“We are optimistic and hopeful (the governor’s) confidence will be reflected when a final budget is passed later this spring,” Wise said.
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