Campus Faculty Association statement in response to Faculty Letter on Enrollment Management
The Campus Faculty Association supports the efforts made by the named chairs in their letter, drawing the attention of the Board of Trustees to the problems with the Enrollment Management Plan. Like the signatories of this letter we are concerned that the process put forward by President Hogan effectively sidelines the faculty at individual campuses and moves toward a centralization of administrative power within the University of Illinois.
However, we think that there are other issues which the Enrollment Management Plan ignores or fails to address adequately. In particular, we are concerned about the rising costs of tuition for students, the decreasing number of tenured faculty appointments, the flat-lining of faculty salaries while the numbers of administrators and the budget for administrative posts escalate, and the failure of the Enrollment Management Plan to adequately address the real problems which have led to a decrease in the ranks of under-represented students, African-Americans in particular, and the continuous outflow of faculty of color from the University. All these factors affect enrollment at UIUC, UIS and UIC, but the EMP does not address them. They cannot be solved by centralization and branding.
We call on the Board of Trustees to pause and reflect on the bigger picture, bearing in mind that the resignation of Lisa Troyer has thrown a cloud of suspicion over the EMP. It is time for a re-evaluation with true faculty input rather than a hasty decision to approve an ill-conceived attempt at a major restructuring of our university.
Professor Susan Davis
Chairperson, CFA Communications Committee
To read the letter and the News-Gazette article on this letter click here.
Campus Faculty Association 