Daily Egyptian MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
VOL. 100 ISSUE 55
SINCE 1916
Dolling up for drag
Chancellor to Higher Learning commission: ‘We do not plan to close’
BILL LUKITSCH | @Bill_LukitschDE
Interim Chancellor William Bradley Colwell informed the university’s accrediting agency by letter last week that officials do not plan to close SIUC in the coming months. The Higher Learning Commission asked all 12 public universities and community colleges last month to submit detailed plans if they expect to close or suspend operations in spring 2016 because of the on-going state budget impasse. Colwell shared his response with university employees via email Thursday. “No public university can operate entirely without state support, but SIUC can do so for the rest of the fiscal year,” Colwell wrote. “We do not plan to close.” The letter lists measures taken to reduce spending last year. The university has largely avoided layoffs thus far by cutting $13.5 million — 6.4 percent — by not filling vacant positions. But the budget impasse has depleted a large portion of the university’s liquid reserves, Colwell said. He said as of Jan. 31, the Carbondale campus had about 43 percent less cash on hand than it did during that time last year. “The university has incurred more than $92 million in salary expenses that will be paid using appropriated funds in the event of a state budget resolution,” Colwell said. SIU President Randy Dunn informed employees via email Wednesday that he is asking budget staff to draft plans in response to the governor’s proposed $40 million spending reduction in fiscal year 2017. The Carbondale campus would lose $25.4 million under that plan. Dunn asked budget staffers last week to draft additional cut lists that would ensure basic operations through Dec. 31. Those cuts indicate SIU is in “fiscal triage mode,” Dunn said. A call to Dunn’s office requesting additional details on the cuts and what could happen if a state budget is not approved by Dec. 31 was not returned as of Friday afternoon. John Charles, SIU’s executive director of governmental affairs, said Thursday university officials are still hopeful an appropriation for fiscal year 2016 will come through. Charles and Dunn will appear before an Illinois Senate committee for higher education appropriation on March 10 to detail the financial state of the SIU system. Bill Lukitsch can be reacher at blukitsch@dailyegyptian.com or 618-536-3329.
Photo headline
Luke Nozicka | @LukeNozicka Jacob Hays, who performs as Veronica J. Belle, gets ready for a drag show held by the Saluki Rainbow Network on Saturday in the Student Center. Hays has been performing in drag for seven years. For more, please see page 4 and 5.
As budget impasse nears its ninth month, more SIU programs in danger of closing TYLER CROTZER | @TylerCrotzer_DE
Services and research at SIU continues to be affected as Illinois nears its ninth month without a state budget, leaving many to scavenge for alternative funds to operate. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic Legislature have been unable to negotiate on a budget since July 1. Here are five examples of how the state’s historic stalemate is altering SIU’s operations and research. Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders The center will close if state funding is not established to provide a grant from the Department of Human Services — which usually provides about 90 percent of the center’s funding — before June, said Valerie Boyer, the center’s director. Located in the Wham Education Building, the center provides speech and behavioral therapy for children with learning disabilities.
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“Over the course of 2015, we were able to supplement about 25 percent of our annual budget with a combination of billing, fundraising and other types of revenue,” Boyer said. As of July 1 the center had four fulltime staff members and one contracted psychologist, but without promise of funds, many of its highly qualified staff have left in search of more secure jobs, Boyer said. The center now employs two full-time staff members, which has directly affected the number of graduate students in the program. “We are a pre-professional training program, so right now we have six graduate students working at our center for course credit as part of their master’s program,” Boyer said. “Typically there would be nine, but we are down due to lack of supervision.” The lack of staff this semester has also forced the center to stop accepting new patients — Boyer said CASD is only helping about half of the people it did in last year.
Sara Hazel, whose son has been using the center for nearly two years, organized a fundraiser in September that raised about $10,000 for the center. “At the autism center, they specify his needs and it’s always one-on-one, which is exactly what a child with autism needs,” Hazel said of her son’s experience with the center. ThinkFirst Illinois Program The program, which has worked for the last 25 years to provide Illinoisans with road safety information, will cease to exist by the end of February. It informed 14,000 individuals through 316 programs and events across Illinois in the 2014-15 school year on a budget of $270,000, which came from an Illinois Department of Transportation grant. Eleventhousand of the individuals reached were teens, said Karen Carlson, a spokeswoman for SIU’s School of Medicine in Springfield. Please see BUDGET | 2