PeoriaStory

A tale of two universities

MACOMB, IL -- The nearly five hour meeting of Western Illinois University's Board of Trustees on Dec. 14 revealed a tale of two campuses -- the good and the bad.

First the bad:  lack of transparency.  The 8 am meeting is too early for the public to easily attend. The room, in the student center, was too small leaving a standing room only audience squeezed along the walls. And when I asked for an agenda, it didn't exist!  It's on-line, someone said.  

That wasn't good enough, and I complained that surely there were copy machines in the building.  There were, and after a while agendas for the audience appeared, and were eagerly studied by those in attendance.

The trustees recently were found guilty by the Illinois Attorney General's office of violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act for a closed meeting in June that discussed laying off tenured teachers, shutting down WIU's NPR station and many other items that should have been discussed in an open meeting. 

A violation is a Class C misdemeanor that carries a fine and possibly jail.  It's still under investigation by the Attorney General, since the local State's Attorney recused  himself. The board chairwoman soon resigned.

Something needed to be said about this, so WIU's new lawyer offered an apology of sorts. But the issue was live, as an agenda item, misnamed, proposed to destroy tapes of closed meetings while the the Attorney General's office is investigating closed meetings to see whether they, too, violated the law.

This item was the last on a long agenda, and eventually was tabled as people spoke against destroying the tapes. That was a rare concession from the icy board of trustees.The faculty union also threatened to sue if the tapes were to be destroyed.

After a 45 minute presentation of "points of pride," about good programs at WIU, the public comments began. Here is a recording of the public comments:

Download WIU Dec 14 18

Several people spoke, including me, asking that the NPR station, WIUM-FM, be funded so it doesn't collapse. The board ignored the pleas, as usual.  Here is a story on the public comments.

The only hope for saving the station will be new trustees.  Governor-elect JB Pritzker will be able to appoint five new trustees in January, a board majority, so perhaps they will listen to the many pleas for the award-winning station, WIU's best outreach to the region.  

A group of retirees presented a statement supporting the university but urging, among other things, that the liberal arts be preserved as WIU restructures itself due to a $21 million budget deficit.  Their spokesperson, Paula Wise, expressed concern about low staff morale on the campus due to impending layoffs.

The new chairwoman of the trustees, Carolyn Ehlert Fuller, then announced "President Thomas, the board stands behind you and your team."  Thomas was also in the illegal closed session and has been criticized for rejecting faculty input into staff cuts. Fuller's term is up in January, and she is retiring.

An online petition caused WIU president Jack Thomas to meet with the faculty union and back off immediate proposed staff cuts.  He said they can wait until the new governor's budget message on Feb. 21, but layoffs will be announced on March 1, he said.

A long series of presentations then followed, some of them interesting, but many were way too long. WIU has some terrific programs, but its enrollment has dropped to about 8,500 students, down 28 percent since 2013.

The trustees quizzed the administrators about why this is happening and were told local area students are not attending WIU, and some scholarships for local students are not being used. 

 WIU is proud of its diversity. It "reflects the world around us," an administrator said.

Other facts from the presentations:  WIU's foundation assets dropped 3.5 percent in the recent stock market decline, and now is $56.2 million. Campus revenue is down 13.1 percent, and WIU's reserves have been depleted due to lack of state funding. "We're doing the best we can with the resources we have, vice president Joe Rives said.

The good: The campus staff has acquired $3.5 million in grants this year, and several new programs are designed to attract more students including many scholarships to make the campus affordable. 

Despite the problems, the administrators and trustees talked of hope from the new governor.  The president of the faculty senate summed it up: "Illinois is a large, rich state that can afford a good public university system," he said.

And here's the story from WIUM, a terrific story.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

NPR: Don't ask, don't tell about corporate control

MACOMB -- National Public Radio's Cheryl Corley, now based in Chicago but formerly of Peoria, spoke to a Western Illinois University audience on March 31 about NPR.  But not about creeping corporate control of the popular public radio network.

When asked about corporate influence on NPR programming, because business and corporations heavily fund the stations, she wouldn't comment. "Local people make those decisions," she said. 

I had asked her about corporate influence and why NPR stations in Macomb and Peoria won't broadcast Democracy Now. The show plays on WTND-FM in Macomb and the ICC radio station, WAZU-FM in Peoria.

Corley also wouldn't comment on the national NPR issue of Republicans trying to defund the network and PBS, because of alleged bias.  NPR and PBS are not biased, or course, unless you consider accurate science and political reporting, which tells the truth, a bias. 

Corley said, "it's not my job to talk about funding issues and the politics of it."

Otherwise the talk was interesting. NPR is actually a producer of shows which the local affiliates purchase.  Its shows reach 34 million listeners through 900 stations. It has 17 foreign bureaus, and 16 national bureaus in US cities.

The median age of listeners is 55 years, versus 44 years for all radio. Its audience has increased by 58 percent in the last decade, and it has not suffered the journalism woes that have hit print and commercial networks, likely because it is a not-for-profit and has not been sold to Wall Street. Yet.

Is it liberal or elitist?  Surveys show 28 percent of its listeners say they are conservatives, she said, 25 percent in the middle and 37 percent liberal or very liberal.  

I would describe the listeners as the educated elite in the US who appreciate diverse, in-depth stories. If that's elitism, let's have more of it.

Corley said NPR reporters have "subject expertise," something that's becomming rare in the cash-strapped commercial media. The NPR network focuses on "strong story telling" and "the intimacy of the human voice," she added.

 -- Elaine Hopkins