Northeastern Illinois University has been circling a financial drain for a while but the situation is getting pretty desperate now.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Northeastern Illinois University to cut about 180 jobs: ‘the devastation increases’For nearly two years, the state budget standoff has placed Northeastern Illinois University in an ever-tightening vise as the school’s administrators have worked to continue operations amid steep reductions in state funding.Leaders have tried increasingly drastic strategies to cut costs, culminating in campuswide furloughs that shut down the campus for eight days this spring and even forced students out of work. All the while, officials warned of worse to come.On Tuesday, the 700th day without a budget, those warnings came true.University officials announced Tuesday that they would eliminate about 180 full-time jobs this summer. The cuts include about 130 civil service and 50 administrative and professional employees — a quarter of the staffing in both categories. Those workers will receive layoff notices within the next six to seven weeks, interim President Richard Helldobler said.The move is expected to save about $9 million through September, helping to reduce a $10.8 million shortfall, Helldobler said. Other cuts will come through a spending freeze and leaving some positions vacant, he said. The cuts do not affect academic faculty members.”We’ve been pushed to our limits,” Helldobler said at a news conference. “It has been devastating, and sadly today the devastation increases.”
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