[Peace] PICKET BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR CHRIS KENNEDY'S SPEECH, Monday, March 14th, 11:30 AM

[David Green]

Friends,

I've pasted a campus-wide e-mail from President Michael Hogan at the end of this 
message which I'm sure most of you received. The assumption of this e-mail is 
that "we," the "U of I community," must naturally support his efforts to promote 
the virtues of our university. To me, it's important to understand that this 
laundry list is not only provinical boosterism on the one hand, but propaganda 
on the other. We are asked, as a "community," to accept the basic economic 
assumptions of corporate higher education and "human capital" in an unjust 
society. We are asked to view ourselves in solidarity as an "interest group" in 
relation to the state legislature. We are asked not to question anything 
fundamental about the corporate-military state and the university's integration 
into that state. As workers for social justice, we are asked to allow ourselves 
to be co-opted in the name of a few dollars more or less for the U of I budget 
from our magnanimous legislature.

When Hogan sends out such a message, he can't imagine why anyone who receives a 
paycheck from or pays tuition to the university could possibly not support him 
wholeheartedly, at least out of "self interest." But we must honestly ask 
ourselves: If the university contributes so much economically to our state, then 
why does our state's economy suck? Or our nation's? The answer will be found in 
long-term policies that have been wholeheartedly supported for decades by 
university administrators and corporate elites like Michael Hogan, which 
generally go under the rubric of neoliberalism, corporatism, privatization, and 
military-industrialism; that is, class warfare. And to keep this academic virtue 
going, all the way to utopia, we need just a few more dollars from the state 
legislature?

Through my place of employment, the Institute for Government and Public Affairs, 
I also received an e-mail "personally" from Robert Rich urgently requesting my 
attendance at the talk by Kennedy on Monday. I am perplexed by this--as if they 
were worried they wouldn't fill the seats for this momentous occasion (to hear 
boosterism-propaganda about the research university), or as if they are worried 
that the seats will be filled by the "wrong people." The request for RSVPs is 
also unusual, as if this were a cocktail party to "meet a Kennedy." Let me add 
that the IGPA is a "non-partisan" policy research and advisory group that in no 
way supports any view that might challenge the fundamental assumptions of the 
political and corporate establishments, and business-as-usual. That is what 
"non-partisan" means in an academic context.

I could be making too much of this, but this occasion nevertheless presents an 
obvious opportunity, in the spirit of Cairo and Madison. Chris Kennedy 
represents what President Clark Kerr represented to Berkeley students during the 
Free Speech Movement in 1964: managerialism, corporatism, conformity, business 
as ususal: "the best of all possible worlds." In 1964, California was 
experiencing prosperity probably unparalled in any state at any time in the 
history of this country, before or since, and school was essentially free, but 
students rebelled against the condescension of university administrators, and 
much more (racism, the Vietnam War).

I would encourage demonstrators to look well beyond the issue of tuition hikes 
and other more immediate economic concerns, as well as demands related to 
admissions policies, to these fundamental political, social, and economic 
contexts. I would encourage local social justice organizations to see this as an 
opportunity to discourage "business as usual" on this occasion. I would suggest 
that prior to this event, there be collective and open meetings and discussions 
of agendas, demands, and plans of action. This seems to me like an opportunity 
that reflects the confluence of the spirit of our times, for worse and better.

David Green


________________________________

From: Ben Rothschild <rothsch2 at gmail.com>
To: undergraduate-graduate-alliance 
<undergraduate-graduate-alliance at googlegroups.com>; SC 
<geo-stewards at lists.uigeo.org>; announce at lists.communitycourtwatch.org; 
discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org; peace at lists.chambana.net; 
students-for-a-united-illinois at googlegroups.com; 
illinois-education-rights at googlegroups.com; Campus Labor Coalition 
<campuslabor at lists.uigeo.org>; defend-education at googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, March 12, 2011 10:33:41 AM
Subject: [Peace] PICKET BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR CHRIS KENNEDY'S SPEECH, Monday, 
March 14th, 11:30 AM

PICKET BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR CHRIS KENNEDY'S SPEECH

Monday, March 14th, 11:30 AM
Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue, URBANA, ILLINOIS

The University is raising tuition by over $500.
 
______________________
 
Dear Colleagues,

On Wednesday I had an opportunity to testify before the state Senate 
Appropriations II Committee. It was a great forum for me to articulate 
the "value proposition," as one senator put it, of the state's investment 
in the University of Illinois. I was able to share our many outstanding 
accomplishments, including:

- The University of Illinois produces about $13.1 billion per year in 
direct and indirect economic impact on the Illinois economy -- a return 
of more than $17 for every $1 the state invests through its annual 
appropriation to the University.
- University of Illinois operations directly and indirectly generate more 
than 150,000 jobs in the state annually. 
- The annual activity of our University creates more than $1.3 billion in 
future tax revenue to the state, resulting in a net annual gain to the 
state of about $535 million.  
- The vast health sciences complex on our Chicago campus educates a 
significant number of health care professionals practicing in Illinois 
and provides state-of-the-art care through more than 400,000 patient 
visits each year.
- Our Springfield campus, among the best public liberal arts universities 
in the Midwest, has garnered national recognition for its advances in 
online education and blended learning.
- Graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have the 
highest median mid-career salary among graduates of all Big Ten 
universities, and the ninth-highest median mid-career salary among all 
U.S. public research universities.
- Our Urbana campus students have the second-highest graduation rate in 
the Big Ten and second-lowest debt upon graduation.
- The combined federal research funding across our campuses puts us in 
the top five among U.S. public research universities.
- The wages and salaries of our alumni contribute about $21.2 billion 
annually to the state economy and about 265,000 jobs.

The senators were very impressed by all our contributions to the state. 
The exchange also gave me an opportunity to highlight the distinctive 
missions and exceptional performance of each of our campuses. This 
resonated positively with the senators. At the same time, they 
articulated, as they must, the State's profound long-term budget crisis. 
Their questions covered a wide range of subjects, from faculty and staff 
salaries to tuition waivers to academic programs and administrative 
operations. I aggressively defended our policies, particularly on 
salaries and graduate tuition waivers. I explained that, among other 
things, appropriate compensation adjustments are one of my highest 
priorities. Of course, they wanted to know what we're doing to help 
ourselves, and how we might replace lost positions and increase salaries, 
when there is no additional support for either in the governor's fiscal 
2012 budget proposal. That gave me an opportunity to explain we are 
making progress on the Administrative Review & Restructuring (ARR) 
reforms.

I reported our efforts to streamline business functions across the 
University, with the expectation of building, over three years, annual 
savings of $60 million or more -- funds we must reallocate to manage any 
future cuts in state support, avoid furlough days, make compensation 
adjustments, and replenish some of the faculty and staff positions we 
have lost. I also had an opportunity to explain how the reforms 
implemented thus far have already saved over $5 million in the first half 
of the current fiscal year, and we expect another $5 million by July 1. 

These savings come at a minimum net cost to the University, as we've 
reconfigured four of five positions, rather than creating entirely new 
ones, to implement the reforms. We just announced the appointment of Dr. 
Larry Schook, as interim Vice President for Research. The VP-Research 
role takes on the portfolio of the former Vice President for Technology 
and Economic Development position, along with the added responsibility of 
advancing our research enterprise across the three campuses and in state 
and federal arenas. Also, we've expanded the portfolios of three existing 
and highly experienced administrators:  Steve Veazie, who'll add 
oversight of collective bargaining across our campuses to his 
responsibilities as Deputy University Counsel, is taking on the added 
title of Executive Director of Labor and Employee Relations; Maureen 
Parks, as Executive Director for Human Resources, will add to her 
responsibilities oversight across our campuses of HR services and 
processes involving civil service and academic professionals whose work 
doesn't entail a direct academic role; and Michael Hites, who'll work 
with campus chief information officers (CIOs) as the University's 
Executive CIO to enhance enterprise IT services and infrastructure 
delivered on all our campuses. Finally, we added just one new position, 
an Interim Vice President for Health Affairs, which will be supported by 
clinical revenues. We've appointed Dr. Joe "Skip" Garcia to this position 
and charged him with enhancing our clinical healthcare mission, which has 
the potential to realize substantial new revenues and savings, while 
improving education and research opportunities and enhancing service to 
the hundreds of thousands of patients we serve.

I've heard that some might not be aware of these changes or are confused 
about how they're being made. The new cost is nominal, because, as noted 
above, we've reconfigured existing positions, rather than adding new ones 
(except for the VP-Health Affairs). We expect these changes to drive the 
reforms that will produce the $60-plus million in savings that our 
estimates indicate we can achieve. Most important, these changes will 
improve the financial circumstances for each campus, enabling each to 
remain competitive and enhance its performance and its distinctive 
mission. Additionally, our effectiveness in these cost-savings efforts 
will inform the Board's tuition decision, under the policy it adopted at 
the January Board Meeting.

In the midst of the state's profound budget problems and our efforts to 
deal with the implications for our great University, I'm proud that so 
many of you are working collaboratively on these reforms, are focusing on 
the big picture, and are recognizing the opportunity for positive 
transformation, which improves services and saves precious resources. 

As I've been doing, I'll continue to keep you informed of our legislative 
work and our progress on ARR reforms. Since joining our great University 
last July, I've spent hundreds of hours on more than 60 meetings with 
campus senates and their leaders, student groups, deans, department 
chairs, collective bargaining unit leaders, academic professionals, and 
other constituencies comprising our shared governance system. Some may 
wish I could spend more time with them and I'll continue to do my best to 
visit with you. These consultations have been very beneficial and at the 
urging of faculty, staff, and students we've made many changes to 
proposals under consideration before I arrived and shortly thereafter. 
These include: taking the proposal to combine the campus chancellor and 
provost positions off the table; reversing the decision to combine the VP-
Academic Affairs with the VP-TED; keeping the provost title for vice 
chancellors of academic affairs; changing the VP-Research, TED title 
to "VP-Research;" and ensuring that the VP-Health Affairs description 
includes alignment of the clinical enterprise with our academic and 
research missions. All these adjustments arose from my consultations with 
so many of you. I'm grateful for your good advice and welcome it as we 
continue to move forward.

None of this would have been possible without your support and the help 
of chancellors, vice presidents, and others on the ARR Steering 
Committee. Also, I'm grateful for the participation of President Emeritus 
Stan Ikenberry, who launched the ARR efforts before I arrived and remains 
a close friend and advisor.

As my session Wednesday with the committee of the state Senate 
demonstrated, we have a great story to tell -- one that impresses our 
senators and the people of our state. I urge you all to keep telling it, 
as I will. Our story is one of sustained success and accomplishment, even 
in very challenging times. Leaders throughout the state and nation are 
looking to the University of Illinois to bring the exceptional talents of 
our faculty, staff, and students to bear on the pressing issues of our 
time. I couldn't be more proud of how we are rising to these challenges 
and of the tremendous progress we are making together.

Sincerely,

Mike
President, University of Illinois

This mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

Last year, they hiked by it $1000 and MAP Grant funding is being cut. Yet they 
gave the president a $170,000 pay raise. The tuition hike vote is taking place 
on March 23rd, during our spring break, in Springfield!

STOP THE TUITION HIKE! Increase Underrepresented Minority Student Enrollment! 
Create a Financial Aid Program for Undocumented Students! Fair Contract for ALL 
UI Workers! Education is Not a Business - No More Privatization!

REMEMBER TO RESERVE A SEAT AT THE SPEECH:
http://igpa.uillinois.edu/chris-kennedy

See attached flyer.

Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigration Rights and 
Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) 


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20110312/48165b63/attachment.html>