In the midst of a continuing state budget impasse, the University of Illinois has seen an increase in the number of faculty members leaving for other campuses. University President Timothy Killeen says there’s cause for concern, but there’s no crisis.
Killeen says the number of faculty leaving the U of I is still lower than the number of new faculty coming in.
“We may have lost about 50 faculty, which is up from a typical year, which would be more like 30. But we’ve brought in 70 faculty. So the University of Illinois is in great shape, with a dynamic, world-class faculty that we’re extraordinarily proud of. We’re paying close attention to make sure it doesn’t go downhill from here.”
Killeen says that faculty have been leaving the U of I for “multi-faceted” reasons… but that the troubled state budget is definitely among the concerns.
State lawmakers and the governor have agreed on a stopgap budget plan that funds higher education for just half of the current fiscal year. Killeen says he hopes state leaders will restore that funding to a normal schedule. But he thinks that may not happen until around January, after the election.