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MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
Funding cuts could hurt public opinion
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VOL. 99 ISSUE 36
Making puppets for Earth Day
tyler davis | @TDavis_DE Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget has resulted in low approval in public polls, according to a March survey done by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. If the nearly 32 percent budget decrease for higher education passes, the number of public polls could decrease as well. The institute, which conducts research on public opinion polls, was one of roughly 25 non-academic departments that received a memo last week asking it to send the administration ramifications of a hypothetical 50 percent cut in state funding. Judy Marshall, SIU's executive director for finance, sent a memo to prepare for a meeting by the Executive Planning and Budget Committee on Monday. The committee, which advises President Randy Dunn, who took over chancellor duties after interim Chancellor Paul Sarvela died in November, will discuss the specifics of the proposals. David Yepsen, director of the institute, said the organization provides internships and original research information that can be used by graduate students conducting research, and funds public speakers. He said it also serves civic education and helps students who want a career in public service. “We're not an academic unit, but we do academic things,” he said. “And we certainly support the academic mission. We try to bring good, diverse, interesting speakers to campus for students." About a third of the institute’s budget— or $280,571—is provided by state appropriations. Yepsen said the institute also gets proceeds from the university’s endowment. Losing a significant chunk of the money that helps bring lecturers to campus would completely change the organization's operation, he said. "You can't cut any living thing by a half or a third without either killing it or forcing it to morph into something else,” he said. Staff layoffs, lost internships and a reduced number of speakers are all possible means to alleviate the diminished funding. Even polling, which is a regular practice of the institute, could be cut. The students’ loss is twofold, Yepsen said. The obvious losses are the internships and hours spent on research, but other lost intangibles include the experience of seeing a politician or popular speaker on campus, which especially affects minority students. "I'm a big believer that students can't be what they can't see,” he said. “By bringing a diverse group of people to campus to speak—like a legislator who is AfricanAmerican, or one who is Latino—we give students an opportunity to see people who they could emulate.” Please see POLICY | 2
a bbie i yun | @abimbola09 Four-year-old Ellie Fletcher plays with her puppet, a white tail deer, she made at the All Species Puppet Parade workshop on Saturday. The puppet parade workshop, organized by the Parade of Species Initiative, is aimed at educating children and adults on the importance of protecting all life forms. Cade Bursell, one of the volunteers at the workshop, and a professor of Cinema and Photography at SIU, said the workshop is aimed at allowing people to see the connection that animals and plants play in keeping the earth safe. “Making art is a great way to spend a Saturday,” said Jennifer Conwell-Barnes, a parent at the workshop whose daughter, Thisbe Barnes, also made a puppet. Children and adults are invited to participate in the puppet workshops held during the second and third Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in April.
Plan to privatize higher education proposed tyler davis | @TDavis_DE The Illinois public higher education system could have a complete overhaul if one Illinois state senator gets his way. State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, is working on legislation that will convert Illinois’ public universities into nonprofit, private institutions over a six-year period. Brady said the plan was not submitted for the General Assembly’s consideration this year, but the bill started the discussion of the state’s role in funding higher education. Brady said during this six-year period, state money appropriated for higher education would transition to grant funding. “This would increase the grant amount and give back to those universities through student recruitment,” he said in an interview. He said the move would give money directly to students instead of universities, in turn, increasing enrollment at state universities and making students more responsible for their education. In Brady’s plan, those who graduate in four years and live and work in Illinois will have their debts repaid by one-eighth each year. Essentially, if a college student graduated in four years, the state
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money he or she received would be forgiven if that student lived and worked in the state for eight years. Students who graduate in more than four years would have debt forgiven by one-tenth and would have to live and work in the state for a decade for full forgiveness. Brady said privatization would cut universities’ dependence on state funds and decrease burdensome state regulations. David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute,
said this privatization process has already begun. “This sounds like a dramatic new idea, but as a practical matter, it’s already been happening,” he said. “The level of state funding has been going down, the levels of private support and tuition dollars have been going up.” Yepsen said the legislation is more of a tool to begin conversations about the role of the state in funding higher education. He said the private moniker may give people negative ideas about the universities—higher
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tuition costs and less regulations that prevent discrimination—but not too much would change from an operating standpoint. Yepsen presented some positives, referencing Brady’s comments that state regulations impede schools’ operations. He said hiring and firing of employees, updating information technology systems and getting new materials take especially long because of government regulations. Please see PRIVATIZE | 2
Women’s basketball coach Cindy Stein turns teams around wherever she goes. See page 5 for the story.