01. 30 .17

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LEAPS OF LIFE

PANTHERS WIN

Lacey Jenkins opens up about her love for gymnastics.

Men’s basketball win game against Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville Saturday.

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THE

D aily E astern N ews

“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” Monday , January 30, 2017 C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE E S T . 1 915

VOL. 101 | NO. 90 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S . C O M

Motion to not affect Eastern employees

Wave them like you just don’t care

By Cassie Buchman News Editor | @cjbuchman

MOLLY DOTSON | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS

Gangstagrass performs “Put Your Hands Up High” during which several members of the audience waved their hands in the air from their seats Friday in the Dvork Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. This bluegrass-rap group additionally visited the Marshall and Charleston High School Wednesday and Thursday as part of the Lions in Winter Literary Festival.

BOT hears vitalization concerns, approves increase in housing, dining rates By Cassie Buchman News Editor | @cjbuchman The Board of Trustees heard vitalization project concerns and approved an increasing in housing and dining rates and the university’s search for external marketing services Friday. Jemmie Robertson, chair of the Faculty Senate, shared concerns he had heard had regarding the project, specifically academic programs being considered for elimination or reorganization. Some of the thoughts he talked about were his own, though a majority were concerns communicated to him by faculty colleagues, students and alumni. Four programs are being considered for elimination or reorganization as a result of recommendations by Workgroup no.7, which looked at academic programs during the vitalization project. The programs being considered are the bachelor’s degrees in philosophy, adult and community education, Africana studies and career and technical development. Of these, the deletion of the philosophy program is the one that could lead to a reduction of Unit A employees. Robertson asked the board to

consider what would happen if the philosophy department received recruiting money comparable to that given to similarly-sized athletic programs. “What if instead of cutting, we provided philosophy with a small portion of the $1.5 million subsidy EIU is providing EIU athletics, so that we can help the philosophy department rebuild its student numbers?” he asked. Robertson said some of his faculty colleagues take issue with the profit and loss data given to members of Workgroup no.7. In these sheets, intercollegiate athletics was given credit for housing and dining dollars generated by student athletes, while philosophy and other academic programs did not get this credit. “Why do we continue to subsidize non-academic programs while we are debating cutting academic programs?” Robertson said. Another concern the Faculty Senate had was their late inclusion into the vitalization project. Robertson said his colleagues do not think the senate’s inclusion now escapes the fact that the vitalization project was conceived in a way that it bypassed previously existing shared governance groups on campus.

To address these issues, the Fa c u l t y Se n a t e re c e n t l y vo t e d to hold a referendum for all faculty members concerning their confidence in Workgroup no. 7’s final recommendations, though a date for this has not been set yet. The women’s studies program wrote a letter to Eastern President David Glassman protesting the potential elimination of philosophy and Africana Studies as well. In the letter, which 30 members of the program signed, they wrote that the programs represent two pillars of a liberal education.“Both offer our students critical perspectives on ethics and social justice as well as preparation for responsible citizenship and participation in the democratic process in our increasingly global and interconnected world,” the letter wrote. knows that, but we also know that we’re being treated now by the state as if that’s the only thing that matters and we are resisting that,” she said. Jeannie Ludlow, coordinator of women’s studies, said the department wanted to make the point that not everything can be measured in dollars and sense. “I know the president knows that, I know the Board of Trustees

BOT, page 3

Workgroup discusses social services program By Analicia Haynes Online Editor |@Haynes1943 A member of Workgroup no. 8, Academic Visioning I, presented a potential new program to the Workgroup at its Friday meeting. Renee Kidd-Marshall, director of the nursing program, talked about incorporating a bachelor’s degree that would follow a social services track. “There can be a sociology degree with a social services track,” Kidd-Marshall said. “Our surrounding community colleges offer an associate’s degree in social service, so why don’t we complete that degree?” Kidd-Marshall said the idea came to her after finding out that an 18-year-old student with a GED certificate could be a community liaison or a coordinator of care after completing 8 weeks of training for a social services certificate. “(If ) someone is making decisions about me about my healthcare, my food, if I choose to live in a refrigerator box or a mansion I would rather have someone with a degree other than a GED and eight weeks,” Kidd-Marshall said.

Workgroup, page 3

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion Thursday to stop the payment of state workers’ salaries until Gov. Bruce Rauner and state legislators can approve a spending plan to end the budget impasse. Eastern President David Glassman said this motion would not affect state workers at the university. “Everybody who works here is a state employee, but not in the same realm as the other state employees,” he said. Pa u l Mc C a n n , i n t e r i m v i c e president for business affairs, said the university has a budget and local money and all of that is taken care of. “Our people are not paid by Sp r i n g f i e l d ; t h e y’re p a i d h e re locally,” he said. McCann said Eastern has its ow n m o n e y f r o m t u i t i o n a n d appropriations and Glassman said it looks like the university will have a balanced budget this year. Meanwhile, the state has gone without a full budget since July 1,2015. The motion filed by Madigan a s k e d t h e St . C o u n t y C i r c u i t Court to dissolve a preliminary injunction allowing state workers to be paid during the budget stalemate by Feb. 28, according to the Associated Press. It has been criticized by Rauner, who said Madigan is attempting to “cause a crisis” and shut the government down. H o w e v e r, t h e A P r e p o r t s that Illinois comptroller Susana Mendoza blamed Rauner for the budget impasse in a statement, saying state workers would not be threatened with no salaries if he had proposed a balanced budget in previous years. Glassman called the motion an “interesting development,” though he said he is not sure what the outcome of it will be. “It certainly may have the effect of getting things to speed up toward a budget being passed from the state,” he said. Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or cjbuchman@eiu.edu.

Full AP story, page 2


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