Monday, February 22, 2016

What Employee Class at the University Has Grown Dramatically Since 2009? Take a Guess

Although the residual damage done by the last President of Chicago State will take years to fully emerge, it is possible to examine his performance since Fall 2009. Here are some of the enrollment “highlights”:

• Total enrollment decreased from 7235 in Fall 2009 to 4442 in Spring 2016, a drop of 2793 students, or 38.6 percent.
• Undergraduate enrollment decreased from 5398 in Fall 2009 to 3143 in Spring 2016, a drop of 2255 students, or 41.8 percent
• Graduate enrollment decreased from 1837 in Fall 2009 to 1299 in Spring 2016, a drop of 538 students or 29.3 percent
• Except for Pharmacy, all of the Colleges lost students between Fall 2009 and Spring 2016
• Undergraduate enrollment decreased in every category (Colleges, no college, Special Programs) between Fall 2009 and Spring 2016
• University enrollment decrease 11 consecutive semesters beginning in Spring 2011

Against this backdrop of plunging enrollments, the former President increased the number of University Administrators, while athletics and full-time lecturers remained stable, and every other employee category decreased.

• University Administrators increased from 91 to 115 (26.4 percent)
• Total Administrators increased from 203 to 225 (10.8 percent)
• Athletics remained the same at 22
• Full-time Lecturers remained the same at 70
• Academic Administrators decreased from 112 to 110 (-1.8 percent)
• Staff decreased from 390 to 304 (-22.1 percent)
• Total Faculty positions decreased from 312 to 250 (-19.9 percent)
• Unit A Faculty decreased from 242 to 180 (-25.6 percent)
• Total positions decreased from 927 to 801 (-13.6 percent)

Aggregate salaries increased for Staff, University Administrators, Full-Time Lecturers, and Athletics. Salaries decreased for Academic Administrators and Unit A Faculty.

• University Administrators salaries increased $2.97 million (46.8 percent)
• Athletic salaries increased $222,945 (25.2 percent)
• Salaries for Full-Time Lecturers increased $312,460 (11.4 percent)
• Total Administrative salaries increased $2.78 million (7.2 percent)
• Total Staff salaries increased $298,506 (2.1 percent)
• Academic Administrator salaries decreased $190,748 (2.3 percent)
• Unit A Faculty salaries decreased $1.14 million (9.3 percent)

A few things to finish. After the February 4 Board meeting, a senior administrator said “we have to get to the tenured faculty,” meaning that layoffs must come in the Fall for tenured faculty. Does that mean the university will continue to protect high-salaried administrators by sacrificing staff and faculty? Given that administrative positions have grown while faculty/staff positions have decreased, that seems to be their goal. We’ll see about that. Finally, I have a pretty fair idea where the first cuts should come. What do you think?

Here are the figures:

6 comments:

  1. And yet the talking point from the left-overs of the Watson Administration is that administrative salaries have been "frozen." If CSU is ready to sacrifice programs and faculty and staff to stay alive, the first massive cuts at CSU should begin with all 6-figured administrators in the Cook Building. The scandal of Watson's crony-infested university has been the chessboard maneuvering of offices around campus and the mushrooming of jobs for friends. How many Associate VPs and Assistant VPs does this campus need? How many friends of Wayne still infest this campus in other capacities at much higher than average salaries? It would do a lot for people about to receive a pink slip if the man supposedly writing his memoirs in university-supported office space in the library was drummed off campus first. It might take the sting out of getting fired to know that those who brought this university to its knees were the first to go.

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    1. I CANNOT believe that Wayne Watson is still associated with CSU. Has there been ANY cuts implemented since the announcement of financial exigency? It amazes me that Watson is still being paid and allowed to do his "business" on the university's property and at the dime of CSU. When you look at the IBHE's salary database for 2015 (http://salarysearch.ibhe.org/search.aspx), the amount of administrators at CSU is comparable to other state universities....problem is CSU's student population is less than a 1/3 of all the others. If the BOT & President Calhoun won't push to reduce administration as a priority and are set on hitting the tenured faculty, maybe their first cut should be to the newly tenured - Watson.

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  2. So, the administration, instead of making cuts in the administrative department to curb costs to make it through the remainder of the semester has decided a week and a half before spring break to say "hey, there's not gonna be a spring break". Have they taken into account how many students & probably teachers may have made arrangements (with financial consequences) for that week. Trips, work schedules, day care accommodations - all disrupted because for some ungodly reason they feel the need for an exorbitant administration-student ratio. I'd like to see the financials reflecting that CSU would not make it through the rest of the semester without cancelling spring break. Is this how they are going to work it for announcements for next year....August 15 - sorry, but we're not gonna be able to make it through another year so go out and find yourself another school now.

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  3. Given these stats, as a tax payer, close CSU’s doors. How much longer are tax payers expected to fund this failed institution? In retrospect how can Calhoun and the BOT continue to have “Lil Wayne” and his gang of cronies on campus? Watson’s presence at CSU is a disgrace. Where is Calhoun’s head? If he is not willing to rid CSU of this baggage then he and the BOT need to be fired. The blame for CSU’s position is a direct result of Watson and BOT. “Black Lives Matter” and the BOT and Watson have done nothing to improve black lives. These stats show they have done nothing to improve black lives. Watson continues to suck blood out of CSU when there is no logical reason for the expense of his presents and, CSU wants tax payers’ money? REALLY!!!!

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  4. Just as Rauner, the CSU administration, by it's actions is NOT putting students and education first. While in the midst of a financial crisis, the CSU administration evidently refuses to cut the exorbitant administrative salaries (namely the EX!!!! president, Watson whom still resides in a cozy little office of the new library, earning his salary even though HE IS NO LONGER THE PRESIDENT!). You hear all the other state universities listing the # of pink slips that have gone out in the last weeks....all you hear from CSU is "we'll run out of money" wha! wha! wha! They are more concerned with keeping their cushy little high paying positions as long as they can while throwing those - meaning the teachers and tenured faculty - to the wolves in the name of "saving money". Did they take into account obligations (with financial consequences) that student & faculty have committed to over spring break? Trips, additional work hours, day care, speaking engagements???? The amount of students that won't be able to attend those classes because of those commitments is doing more of a disservice than anything else to the students of CSU. Leave it for a week and a half before Spring break. Are they gonna wait til August 15th to announce they're tapped out for next year....go find another school now. I thought having a new President to replace Watson was supposed to be a good thing. The actions of the BOT, President & the administration of CSU is sickening. My child goes there so I am not just a disgruntled tax payer listening to the waste, corruption and cronyism of CSU. At this point we're living it and it makes me ill to see how this school is treating it's students.

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  5. Spare us your crocodile tears, "deeplyconcerned" The institution is not a failure: the Administration and lack of BOT OVERSIGHT is the failure. Absent their stupidity and cupidity, we could do an even BETTER job in educating a VERY under-served population so that they can become not only educated, not only successful, but taxpayers who pay back multiples of the cost of supporting their education.

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