Keeping classes going vs. borrowing trouble

SHARE Keeping classes going vs. borrowing trouble

This isn’t a point of discussion that comes up in a humanities class, but it’s still a philosophical question: Should public universities get the authority to borrow money for bills they can’t pay because the state owes them millions of dollars?

Late last week, the Legislature approved Senate Bill 642, which if signed by the governor could temporarily solve cash flow woes at Illinois’ universities, who are owed more than $700 million by the state.

The effort was spearheaded by Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard, who had to use every trick in the book just to make payroll and pay his vendors this year. And there’s no guarantee that next year won’t be worse.

“All of the public universities – they are all really hurting,” Poshard said back in February. “I don’t know what other route to go.”

But interim University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry said last month he thinks it is “a terrible piece of legislation.”

Ikenberry said interest on such borrowing could cost universities $10 to $20 million, which is money they don’t have.

“If there is going to be borrowing done, the state ought to do the borrowing, not 14 different state universities,” Ikenberry said.

But then again, Ikenberry also said it’s possible at least one of the state’s universities might shut down next year if the state doesn’t pay its bills, and he knows it’s a safe bet that legislators wouldn’t let its flagship school be the one that does.

Follow BackTalk onTwitter@stbacktalk

The Latest
Unite Here Local 1, representing the workers at the Signature Room and its lounge, said in a lawsuit in October the employer failed to give 60 days notice of a closing or mass layoff, violating state law.
Uecker has been synonymous with Milwaukee baseball for over half a century.
Doctors say looking at the April 8 eclipse without approved solar glasses — which are many times darker than sunglasses — can lead to retinal burns and can result in blind spots and permanent vision loss.
Antoine Perteet, 33, targeted victims on the dating app Grindr, according to Chicago police.
Glass-facade buildings can disorient birds in flight. The city is expected to update and revise rules for new developments and rehabbed buildings next month. But bird groups say the proposed guidelines need to be mandatory.