SIU Trustees are discussing what to do about the cash crunch on the Carbondale campus as they meet this week.
In their working session today, President Randy Dunn laid out the proposal he announced last week – one that includes $30 million in cuts to SIUC and borrowing from SIU Edwardsville.
Dunn says the state’s budget crisis is negatively affecting the Carbondale campus, but it also has problems of its own.
“They’ve also been living for many years with a structural deficit that hasn’t been corrected. In the most simplistic way possible, describing it as having too many programs for now too few students.”
Trustees spent more than an hour asking what could and should be done to get the campus through this fiscal year and into the next, with the possibility of no state funding looming over their heads.
Trustee Marsha Ryan applauded leaders for the work they’ve done to cut so far, but says the university – and in particular the Carbondale campus – needs to rebuild from within.
“The truth is, it needs doing anyhow. And even if $30 million walked in the door tomorrow, I still would not put this work to an end.”
President Dunn and Interim Carbondale Chancellor Brad Colwell assured trustees their cuts would be permanent – and strategic. They say even with a budget resolution in Springfield, the campus must make itself ready to withstand future funding challenges, and to better serve its students.
Trustees will vote on President Dunn’s request at their formal meeting tomorrow in Carbondale.
