PeoriaStory

WIU's new trustees: hummmm

MACOMB, IL -- Newly appointed trustees for Western Illinois University got a good look at what's happening on campus, at the March 29 meeting.  It wasn't pretty.

Once again the room was too small for the crowd, which left people sitting in the hall, listening via loud speaker.  Those packed into the room were standing around the sides.  Agendas were not available for the audience.  All this means very poor planning, as larger rooms are likely available.

The plentiful supply of microphones didn't always work well, and some comments could not be understood.

The meeting began with a possible violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act:  the officers were elected by secret ballot, then when the results were  announced the board voted to approve the results.

That wouldn't fly for a public school board, but perhaps the Illinois Attorney General's office will know the rules for higher ed.

Then came the first in a long series of presentations by the numerous administrators on campus.  The first one took 15 minutes, devoted to how students benefit from Greek life on campus. Hazing wasn't mentioned.

Next, the public comments. And it turns out that WIU allows those who want to speak to sign up days in advance, though nothing on the agenda states this.  There was a long list, and the comments were cut off after 20 minutes, despite what appeared to be a vote by the trustee to extend the time.  With the bad mic it was not clear what happened. My comments didn't make it, so they will be posted at the end of this story on the meeting.

I worried that administrators had signed up to speak, Stalin-style, to take up the time for comments, but apparently that didn't occur to them.  The comments mostly from faculty actually were honest and worth hearing, about WIU layoffs, program cuts etc. 

And the new board president, Greg Aguilar of East Moline, was apparently interested, as he thanked those who commented and said "we hear you."

He had stated more comments would be taken at the end of the meeting. I didn't wait around, as a long morning was likely before the meeting ended.

According to the agenda, which I somehow acquired when I tried to get my name on the comments list, six vice presidents and several other administrators were scheduled to give reports to the trustees. Their pay likely totals a million dollars, or more.    Getting rid of half of them would fund the campus NPR station, so endless beg-a-thons could be eliminated.

Here's the WIU press release on the meeting.

Will the new trustees do something about administrative bloat?  We'll see. Here are the comments I was not able to deliver:

Congratulations to the new trustees. If you do the right thing, you will be part of rebuilding this fine university, after its recent slide downward. Here’s what you must do:

First, send the budget and the cuts within it back to the drawing board. Many were chosen without any analysis or study. They were on a list someone compiled years ago, also drawn up without any analysis or study. It was just a list and it makes no sense.

For example cutting the funding to WIU’s award winning NPR radio station is crazy. It’s the best outreach WIU has to the public – way beyond pricey TV ads or internet videos which likely are deleted quickly before they are viewed.         If the station must spend all its broadcast time begging the public for money, that sends a message of instability, even crisis.

Then look at other campus services.  The gardener for the beautiful WIU library reportedly has been targeted for layoff. So who is going to take care of the fabulous collection of plants in the library? Will they be left to die?

These are 2 examples but there are many more, cuts without thought but with major implications for WIU, sending the message that the university is circling the drain. The faculty members know what’s happening. Those that can leave are bailing out – and losing the best and brightest will hasten WIU’s decline.

So – good luck in turning things around here. Don’t just rubber stamp what the administration wants or buy their talking point that cuts must be made. They have made stupid cuts. Smart cuts can be made  -– start with the large number of administrators -- but not stupid cuts.  

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 Municiipal Election, Peoria, IL

PEORIA, IL -- Here are my recommendations for the 2019 municipal election.  Vote by April 2: 

For Peoria City Council: Beth Jensen, Rita Ali, Beth Akeson – these three candidates supported Friends of Riverfront Park in the successful effort to save the park from apartments. Other incumbents did not, despite what some have claimed. This is a cumulative voting contest, so voting for one only gives that candidate 5 votes.    

For Peoria Park District president:  Robert Johnson.  He also supported the park against the apartments.  His opponent has never served on the park board, and his wife works for the park district, an unfortunate conflict of interest.

For Park District Trustee: Joyce Harant, Jackie Petty and Kyle Bright. These are experienced candidates who will protect the parks from developers and other predators.

That’s all on the ballot for the central district, but elsewhere Ernestine Jackson for Peoria District 150 School Board should be reelected.  Her election last time guaranteed the resignation of the bad superintendent, who needed to go, and she is a capable board member.

You can register and early vote now, or vote on April 2 at your polling place. To register and vote at the same time: use if your address has changed or you are a new voter in Peoria.  You need 2 forms of ID, one showing where you live.  See the Election Commission’s website at http://peoriaelections.org/ for more information, and on early voting.  Want a paper ballot? You can order a ballot-by-mail now at the website.   

 If anyone challenges your right to vote, ask for a provisional ballot. Don’t fall for false information on voting from robo-calls, the Internet or mail.

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

     

                                               

CAFOs again

PEORIA -- From a news release:

Right to Harm

Wednesday March 27th

7:00 PM

PEORIA RIVERFRONT MUSEUM

IMAX Theatre

222 SW Washington St.

Peoria Il

 

 

SYNOPSIS 

Through the riveting stories of five rural communities, RIGHT TO HARM exposes the devastating public health and social  impacts factory farming has on many disadvantaged citizens throughout the United States. 

 

Filmed across the country, the documentary chronicles the failures of state agencies to regulate industrial animal  agriculture. Known formally as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations – or CAFOs – these facilities  produce millions of gallons of untreated waste that destroys the quality of life for nearby neighbors.

 

The film features agricultural economist John Ikerd, who abandoned industry beliefs after a 14-year career  as a livestock marketing specialist. After the farm crisis of the 1980s he realized, “The farmers who were in the biggest trouble, were the ones doing the things we so-called experts were telling them to do.”

 

RIGHT TO HARM tracks the tribulations and triumphs of rural residents across America who are victims of  the past 50 years of agricultural consolidation and the consequential laws that now govern the land. Fed  up with the lack of regulation, these disenfranchised citizens band together to demand justice from their legislators.

 

Filmmakers Matt Wechsler and Annie Speicher skillfully weave together five stories that span eight states  from the Southwest to the Midwest to the Eastern Shore. Farmers, mothers, scientists and politicians share intimate stories of how their lives were forever changed by factory farming.

 

RIGHT TO HARM is an enlightening exploration that questions whether citizens are entitled to clean air and water, while examining the political issues that stand in the way of nationwide reform.

 

My take:  stop eating meat from CAFO animals. Support politicians who will outlaw or regulate CAFOs. Shut them down!

  -- Elaine Hopkins

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Healthcare Rally

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

WHAT: RALLY FOR HEALTHCARE: Anniversary of the ACA

WHO: Indivisible Peoria Area, local citizens/activists

WHEN: 12:00 noon, Saturday, March 23^rd, 2019

WHERE: Corner of University and Main Streets, Peoria IL

VISUALS: “An Apple A Day Is Not Enough/We Need Healthcare”

 

Celebrate the ACA as a Step On the Way to Medicare For All

Protest Proposed Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid

 

Citizens from Peoria and the tri-county area will gather on the ninth anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (enacted March 23, 2010) which guaranteed both 1.) that no one could be refused health insurance coverage for any reason (e.g. a pre-existing condition) and 2.) that plans must include Ten Essential Health Benefits.* This ground-breaking legislation put patients and the right to essential healthcare front and center for the first time, changing our national view to one of basic healthcare as a human right and NOT as a negotiable feature of an insurance plan – and has led to a movement toward Medicare For All.

-We will celebrate the ground-breaking character, the positive results and endurance of the Affordable Care Act, which continues to allow millions to access healthcare – despite two years of crippling sabotage of the ACA (after failed attempts to repeal it) from the GOP and the Trump administration.

-We will celebrate the change in our national vision of healthcare which started with the ACA and now propels us toward a system of healthcare for all citizens.

-We will protest the Trump 2020 budget, which calls for draconian cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

-We will inform about Medicare For All, a movement gaining momentum in our community and nationwide.

-We will call for no cuts/no sabotage to healthcare, and protection for Medicare/Medicaid while we move toward Medicare For All.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/416049308956654/

 

#ProtectOurCare #MedicareForAll #Medicare4All #ACA #PreExistingConditions #TrumpBudget

 

*Ambulatory patient services (outpatient services)

Emergency services

Hospitalization

Maternity and newborn care

Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment

Prescription drugs

Rehabilitative and habilitative services (those that help patients acquire, maintain, or improve skills necessary for daily functioning) and devices

Laboratory services

Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management

Pediatric services, including oral and vision care

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The tale of the peculiar testing

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a comment from Sharon Crews at the Peoria District 150 School Board meeting of March 11.  It raises many concerns:

In January 2019 Shannon Marlin revealed to me that some Manual and Peoria High seniors had taken the HiSET high school equivalency test in 2017-18 to graduate. In February 2019 I learned that seven Manual seniors and seven Peoria High seniors passed the HiSET Test. Five of these Manual students had no grades for English IV first or second semester; one had a D and no grade; and one had a D and a C. Six of the Peoria High students had an F for first semester and no grade for second semester for English IV or IVE; one student had an F and a C.

The following are questions that need answers:

If any, how many senior courses besides English did any of these fourteen students fail?

How many of the five components of the test did each senior take?

Precisely what requirements for graduation were covered by passing this test?

Which of these students took and passed the test in time for graduation in May? When or did the others graduate and/or receive a diploma?

What did seniors have to do to prepare for this test? Take a class or what? When and where and taught by whom?

The data shows that tests for Manual cost $2,402 and $3,978 for Peoria High and were given in January, April, May, and June. The cost seems to indicate that many more than fourteen students took the test but may have failed. Who or what fund paid for all these tests? Regional Superintendent of Schools Beth Crider told me that she is the only authorized administrator of the HiSET test in this area, so I assume she administered the tests, right?

Did any Richwoods students take these tests in 2017-18?

I read online that eligibility to take this test includes being eighteen or older, not having a high school diploma, and not being currently enrolled in a secondary school. However, the 2019 FOIA response stated that the State Superintendent of Education, Tony Smith, had chosen Peoria Public Schools to be one of ten school districts to administer a pilot program using this competency-based learning test to high school students as an opportunity to reinvent high school.

I am curious to know when you board members were informed of this program and if you were asked to vote on whether or not to participate in this pilot program? If not, why not? Also, what role will this test play in a plan to reinvent high school—all of which scares me. I thought I heard Dr. Kherat disparage so much dependency on tests, but here we go again. Please provide transparency to report willingly on the district’s website how many students took and passed or failed the HiSET test in 2018-2019 and so far this year.

Did these students who passed this test, but not their required classes, have enough credits to graduate or were credits not required of them?

This test seems to duplicate what is already offered by the GED test. However, when I helped Hedy Elliott’s GED students prepare for the test, I realized that a significant number of students needed classes in which to prepare for each component and that they often didn’t pass the test the first time around. Why the need to replace GED? Or are you reinventing high school and the GED? - 30 -

 -- Sharon Crews

Qatar: Kingdom of Contrasts

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

The small, but influential nation of Qatar, and its impact on American foreign policy in the Middle East, will be topic of a public forum hosted by the Peoria Area World Affairs Council at Bradley University.

Dr. Janice Jayes, a professor of Middle East history at Illinois State University, will join Don Samford, a recent guest of the government of Qatar and a national World Affairs Councils leader, and Julia Ghantous, a former Qatar resident, in exploring the country’s strategic importance, its enormous wealth and its application of Sharia law.

The presentation, titled “Qatar: Kingdom of Contrasts” will be Thursday, March 28, at Westlake Hall, Room 116, on the Bradley campus. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m., with the presentation beginning at 7 p.m.

As a small nation surrounded by much larger neighbors, Qatar has several complex foreign relations entanglements. It has defense agreements with the United States and Britain, but is broadening its relationship with China. U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt have imposed an economic and diplomatic embargo against Qatar. The country has the highest per capita income in the world, due in part to its large reserves of oil and natural gas.

Dr. Jayes is a teacher, researcher, writer and political risk analyst specializing in the Middle East and Latin America. She’s been an instructor at ISU for nine years, earning her doctorate in philosophy, history, U.S. foreign relations and Latin America from American University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Samford is a retired social studies teacher at Eureka High School, and a former board member of the World Affairs Councils of America and former PAWAC president. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Ghantous, a native of Lebanon, lived in Qatar for 23 years and visited frequently because her parents lived there until two years ago. She is an adjunct professor at Illinois Central College.

There is no cost to attend this discussion. Cost to enjoy the dinner is $30 for PAWAC members and students and $35 for the general public. All are welcome. To make dinner reservations, email [email protected]

The Peoria Area World Affairs Council is a community-based volunteer organization that brings the world to Central Illinois by holding a variety of forums on international history, culture and current events. Along with expert speakers, PAWAC offers guided travel opportunities, book club meetings and public discussion forums. In an era of increasing communication and globalization, the organization provides an interactive and engaging international perspective to our local community. The Peoria Area World Affairs Council held its first conference in 1970. PAWAC is affiliated with the World Affairs Councils of America.

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Once is not enough?

PEORIA, IL -- Garrison Keillor remains one of the best writers of our era -- funny, insightful, clever, the Mark Twain of our time.   Here's his latest column:

But his support for Biden may be misguided. Here's my prediction: D.T. will create a grand bargain, and resign to protect his family and himself from prosecution.  How he will work that with the states is a mystery, but I'm betting he will do it.

Then he can retire to his golf course in Scotland to live out his days.

We'll see if that happens.

 -- Elaine Hopkins