Chicago State University is backing off a request that department chairs collect keys from faculty and staff while the financially troubled school grapples with a financial crisis. University spokesman Tom Wogan says faculty and staff now are being asked for their key numbers so the university has an inventory of keys that might be collected in the event of layoffs.
Wogan says the request was clarified in a meeting that university President Thomas Calhoun held with other university officials.
On Monday, administrator Aleshia Renee Terry asked department chairs to begin collecting keys "as soon as possible."
The university has been at risk of running out of money due to state funding being held up by the budget standoff in Springfield.
Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats are trading barbs over who is to blame for the possibility that Chicago State University may have to close due to financial problems. Illinois' public colleges and universities have waited since July for state funding .
Rauner accused Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and his colleagues of playing games by stalling budget negotiations to force a tax hike.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown put the blame on Rauner, saying it was the governor who vetoed the spending plan lawmakers sent him last year and that "now he wants to pretend that this is something that Democrats did."
The state's budget should've taken effect July 1. Rauner says he vetoed the budget because it was billions out of balance.
