tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post8250679711600797374..comments2023-12-15T02:26:43.878-06:00Comments on CSU Faculty Voice: What We've Gone Through: An Indictment of Public Officials in IllinoisPhillip Beverlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05105319296231539370noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-60568107151509692016-05-19T03:56:13.799-05:002016-05-19T03:56:13.799-05:00A few months ago at a Board of Trustee's meeti...A few months ago at a Board of Trustee's meeting, I asked Trustee Anthony Young if the fix was in to make sure the school failed.<br /><br />Events since then have given me the answer Young refused to give.<br /><br />Yes, the fix is in.Tom Painehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16968177739301957349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-2416718301580850452016-05-18T16:44:26.981-05:002016-05-18T16:44:26.981-05:00"But Chicago State can't just limp along ..."But Chicago State can't just limp along as it has, a flunk-out factory for too many young people who deserve much better than that."<br /><br />No, it can't limp along without State support. And it will certainly fail if the perception takes hold that it will close. In which case, the State will lose a LOT of money. Faculty will retire and/or move out of state. Students will take their tuition dollars to Indiana, Employees will file for unemployment. The State will be on the hook for securing the buildings and state property. The State will have to manage everything from chemical waste to live animals should the persons responsible just decide to walk away (we've all been laid off already).<br /><br />"It can't continue to ask taxpayers to fund its failure."<br /><br />If EVERY person in the State of Illinois were paying State Income taxes, their contribution to CSU would be $3.12 per year. I'll leave it to the writer to do the arithmetic to whatever proportion of taxpayers you want.<br /><br />As far as our being a "flunk-out factory", did the writer attend the last commencement and spend a few hours seeing the hundreds of students graduate?<br /><br />"Here's where that difficult conversation about poor performance and strained public resources leads: If CSU's leaders and its backers don't pull CSU out of its nosedive, then South Side pride won't be enough to save it. The unthinkable — folding it into a more successful university, transforming it into a community college or closing it — will become thinkable. Maybe doable.<br /><br />Calhoun has had a rocky four-plus months on the job with more turbulence ahead. It's still early in his tenure, but Calhoun's mission, the board's mission, is urgent: Save Chicago State."<br /><br />About that eight-member board: Four members finish their terms in January. That's a huge opportunity for Rauner to appoint new trustees, turnaround experts to tackle CSU's entrenched problems. To find innovative financial and academic solutions. To explore why more students — freshmen and transfers — don't graduate. To save Chicago State."<br /><br />It will be terrifying to see who Rauner appoints. Because what he wants is to privatize ALL education in the State. And THAT is going to cost everybody. I assure you that he has no interest in appointing anyone who would actively help do anything for CSU other than liquidating it.<br /><br />"CSU's success or failure under its new president and reconfigured board will be widely evident. Either graduation and retention rates rise or they don't. Either the university spends more efficiently or it wastes money on bureaucracy; like several other Illinois public universities, CSU never has been accused of having too few well-paid administrators."<br /><br />No it sure hasn't. And we faculty have repeatedly and vociferously tried to draw your attention to the contrary.<br /><br />"If CSU succeeds — and we profoundly hope it does —"<br /><br />No you don't. The Tribune has never missed an opportunity to report bad news without actually finding out the details.<br /><br />"Students gain the quality education that they expect and deserve. They graduate. They get good jobs. They raise their families and thrive. Maybe they send their children to a proudly reborn Chicago State University."<br /><br />That has actually been going on for a LOOOONNG time. It is too bad that you've never bothered to find out.<br /><br />"For Calhoun and everyone else at CSU, this is a crucial pass/fail test. After the years of mismanagement that cheated so many young people, today there's no credit for effort — just for results."<br /><br />Watson has NEVER LEFT! He is STILL being paid $199K a year until 1 July. His cronies form three of a four-member group (President Calhoun being the 4th) with a majority rule on decisions. This arrangement is due to the Board of Trustees, who have enabled Watson since he started at CSU (those who didn't were replaced). We need an ELECTED Board.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002307775727577446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-35372608715908712872016-05-18T16:43:35.279-05:002016-05-18T16:43:35.279-05:00(cont.)
"Instead of focusing on academic outc...(cont.)<br />"Instead of focusing on academic outcomes, the pols threw money at the school for buildings, labs and equipment."<br /><br />"That focus on visible new stuff rather than on improved outcomes pleased some voters but clearly imperiled CSU's future."<br /><br />So far as I am aware, "new equipment" in the form of scientific instruments has been funded by grants awarded to the faculty. Classrooms have replaced chalkboards, but modern upgrades to the classrooms have not been fully carried out.<br /><br />The money thrown into new buildings at CSU was stupidly spent. About 15 years ago, I served on a committee that was to prioritize the deferred maintenance of the campus (and the entire campus was built in the late 1970s). At that time, the Williams Science Center leaked air, water, and pigeons. We found about $40 million worth of immediate needs. Our report was ignored and the committee disbanded.<br /><br />We did not need a new library as much as we needed access to journal subscriptions (you can't write a very good grant without being able to access the literature). And we need a "Convocation Center" even less. But again, we faculty were not consulted. Under President Watson’s command, we established an aquaponics facility. That was a true surprise to me when I heard about it after the fact, as I'm the only CSU faculty member who knows anything about how to maintain fishes in such a facility.<br /><br />It is not the responsibility of "the pols" to focus on these outcomes. It is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees for the University (who, in CSU's case, are Gubernatorial appointees and are not elected) and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, whose "16 members are: 10 members appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; one member of a public university governing board and one member of a private college or university board of trustees, each appointed by the Governor without the advice and consent of the Senate; the chairman of the Illinois Community College Board; the chairman of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission; and 2 student members selected by the recognized advisory committee of students of the Board of Higher Education, one of whom must be a non traditional undergraduate student who is at least 24 years old and represents the views of non traditional students, such as a person who is employed or is a parent. One of the 10 members appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, must be a faculty member at an Illinois public university.").<br /><br />"A favorite of former Senate President Emil Jones Jr., Chicago State was written into all kinds of pork-laden bills in Springfield. Jones used his leadership role to balance the scales after watching other state schools — especially the University of Illinois — rake in state cash. CSU's $47 million convocation center is named for Jones and his late wife, Patricia, a Chicago State graduate."<br /><br />The thing is, "The Emil and Patricia Jones" Roof, or Electrical Switch Gear, or Journal Access Subscription is not sexy. If they had spent the money from the Convocation Center (which is empty most of the time) and the New Academic Library on a STEM Center, it might have made sense (and so might our Pharm D. program). But, that said, the cost of both represented less than $15 to every Illinois taxpayer. Note that the faculty were not involved in any of these decisions.<br /><br />"CSU alumni revere their institution as a game-changer for students who often don't boast stellar high school academic credentials, who can't afford more expensive schools, or who also hold jobs and care for children. The alums bristle at the thought of Chicago's South Side without Chicago State."<br /><br />As they should. Because unlike the author of the editorial, they know what they are talking about.<br /><br />"That's understandable and commendable."<br /><br />That's patronizing.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002307775727577446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-10369405970969065832016-05-18T16:42:25.986-05:002016-05-18T16:42:25.986-05:00(cont.)
"CSU's graduation rate has crate...(cont.)<br /><br />"CSU's graduation rate has cratered to an abysmal 11 percent: Of the 589 full-time freshmen who started in 2009, only about 65 students graduated within six years. That's down from a shameful 13-to-21-percent range for the last decade. Calhoun says CSU will "analyze our data ... so we can be aware of what's contributing." He says the 11 percent figure doesn't reflect a true picture of the university, because it excludes transfer students. They make up about two-thirds of the student body and graduate at a higher if still weak rate (49 percent in 2015)."<br /><br />Through the years, the Tribune has persistently ignored the metric on which graduation rates are based. Your example is the first time that I've seen where they use the actual standard: students who matriculate as freshmen and then complete their degree at CSU. If you transfer into CSU (as MOST of our students do), you don't count. If you do well and transfer to another program, you don't count (which would certainly lower the total, but the Tribune cited no cohorts to compare). I worked on a model for admissions standards in the mid-2000s based on high school GPA and ACT scores. This was adopted for a few years and was starting to result in noticeable improvement in student performance. Then, the previous President came in, and the standards were lowered as enrollment fell. Arguably, a lot of our students would be better served by attending a city of community college first. Our graduation rate for the rest of our students is much higher and competitive with other institutions.<br /><br />"Careless spending at Chicago State and in the state Capitol has strained CSU's finances, with the current budget impasse forcing the school to lay off one-third of its workforce. Faculty members were spared so far. About a third of CSU's budget comes from the state, and the school doesn't have a large endowment or deep reserves. As the state's economy and government struggle, CSU is a case study in how growing more Illinois jobs would yield more tax revenue and help ease financial crises."<br /><br />While CSU has certainly had its share of financial issues, that is not the source of our existential problem. Not paying bills is a persistent problem (many vendors have blacklisted CSU because Illinois doesn't pay its bills in a timely manner). CSU has only four ways of generating revenue: 1) tuition (which is the greatest share); 2) state funding (which WAS 39% the last time we had a budget); 3) indirect costs from grants; and 4) fundraising.<br /><br />Tuition hikes must be approved by the state. When UIC's tuition equals ours (as it now does), then CSU is not going to be receiving the strongest students. We all know about the State's failure to fund the public universities. At CSU, Indirect costs raised from grants vanish into the University's general fund and are haphazardly dribbled back to the departments whose faculty need support (e.g., access to journals) from them. Fundraising at CSU has been hampered by several factors, which include (but are not limited to): no budget for advertising fundraising events, dissolution by the previous President of the CSU Foundation, no significant fundraising by the Presidents, and no significant fundraising or direct contributions from the Board of Trustees. It should be noted that when you jerk around students as much as the CSU administration does, they are not inclined to become life-long givers.<br /><br />"How did this happen? For years CSU lagged, even drawing a rebuke in 2009 from officials who accredit universities, yet no one was held accountable."<br /><br />Actually, we received a 10-year re-accreditation during that time (which is rare). The "rebuke" was due to the administration not allowing sufficient participation by the faculty in university governance (with the exception of the interim President, this autocratic management style has been true during the entire 20 years that I have been a faculty member).<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002307775727577446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-43497416682218493272016-05-18T16:41:08.352-05:002016-05-18T16:41:08.352-05:00Here was my response to the editorial:
"The ...Here was my response to the editorial:<br /><br />"The crisis isn't new. Today, as on many disturbing days, the Far South Side school is starved of cash and failing to educate — and graduate — many of its students. The university has cheated young people, many of them from low-income homes, of chances for a college degree and a better life. Many students invest time, talent and money in pursuit of degrees they're unlikely to receive."<br /><br />Far from "cheating" these students, Chicago State University has provided the sole potential path to a college degree for many of the city's minority students. We graduate more low-income minority students than Universities that are many times our size (how many such students does UIC graduate?). We not only feed more minority students into graduate and professional programs than any other Illinois University, we have schools as prestigious as the University of Chicago actively poaching our best students (while at the same time, soliciting us to help train their postdocs how to teach and provide them with classroom experience).<br /><br />"But you know who has profited from Chicago State's torpor? A lot of shrewd Illinois politicians, that's who."<br /><br />No, who has profited have been a series of venal and unqualified Presidents, who have done nothing to raise funds, while funneling money to their cronies, toadies, and personal friends. In the time that I have been at CSU, one President left under a cloud after her financial aid shenanigans almost caused CSU to lose the ability to receive financial aid from the Federal Government (and who then went on to destroy the next University she presided over for similar acts and ultimately spent a year wearing an ankle bracelet). The next spent tens of thousands of dollars on cruises and vanity projects to project her delusions of awesomeness.<br /><br />Our previous President (who came in after an interim President who was actually capable, but who left for another position just as things began working) failed upward from seriously damaging the Chicago City Colleges, and continued his predecessors' pattern of demoting and marginalizing competency while rewarding sycophancy and mediocrity, e.g., in installing a Provost (the wife of his lawyer) who lied about her credentials when she was hired and who later plagiarized her dissertation, as well as his girlfriend (in two highly-paid positions for which she was unqualified). He has been sued multiple times, and lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit (the judgment against him of which grows daily while he appeals using state-paid attorneys).<br /><br />One OTHER beneficiary is the local search firm who spent tens of thousands of dollars on “national” searches that yielded local and/or lower-level administrators as candidates.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002307775727577446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-15198480229080733222016-05-18T16:23:40.720-05:002016-05-18T16:23:40.720-05:00Prof. Bionaz, you've been a one man army for t...Prof. Bionaz, you've been a one man army for truth and justice. I, among many others, truly appreciate your efforts! Thank you .Sorry4CSUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473758132770483469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-74270968934034431592016-05-18T16:23:32.301-05:002016-05-18T16:23:32.301-05:00Prof. Bionaz, you've been a one man army for t...Prof. Bionaz, you've been a one man army for truth and justice. I, among many others, truly appreciate your efforts! Thank you .Sorry4CSUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473758132770483469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-11211309312273829672016-05-18T10:31:40.847-05:002016-05-18T10:31:40.847-05:00Administrators are awarded a pay raise of 18%-22%....Administrators are awarded a pay raise of 18%-22%. The VP of Administration and Finance complains about the impact of the pension cost to the university's finances, ultimately to Gov. Quinn. He is fired the next day and files a whistleblower lawsuit.<br /><br />The LaShondra Peebles whistleblower lawsuit reveals the workings of the inner circle, including pressure to backdate contracts (where is the ethics officer, anyway?) and a conspiracy to file false sexual harassment charges against the president of the faculty senate.Concerned Facultyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15639522475046601732noreply@blogger.com