https://socialistaction.org/2016/05/06/students-staff-protest-cuts-at-chicago-state/
Students, staff protest cuts at Chicago State
/ 13 hours ago
May 2016 Chi students
By MARK UGOLINI
Chicago State University (CSU) announced the layoff of more than 300
employees, effective on April 29. Widely considered only the first round
of layoffs, it impacts about one-third of the university’s workforce.
CSU and other Illinois state universities have been denied funds for
nearly the entire academic year, resulting in layoffs, furloughs, or
other program cuts at all 12 of the state’s public universities.
These cuts are a result of the failure of the Illinois state government
to provide desperately needed fund-ing for public education and social
services throughout the state.
CSU is a predominantly Black university, located on Chicago’s South
Side. Its more than 4500 primarily low-income students are hardest hit,
and most are critically impacted by the 10-month-long freeze on
educational funding in Illinois. CSU is dependent on Springfield for
more than 30% of its funding, a greater ratio than other public colleges
that rely more heavily on endowments.
The April 30 Chicago Tribune reports the CSU layoff “will reduce the
number of non-instructional employees by nearly half. Faculty members
were spared during this initial wave of cuts but are likely to be
affected later.”
CSU’s dire financial situation has been well known since last year when
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner blocked passage of a state budget and
escalated implementation of his “Turnaround Agenda,” an austerity plan
to privatize schools, break unions, and cut desperately needed social
services across the state.
In February, notices of potential layoffs were sent to all 900 CSU
employees, admitting that payroll costs could not be met past April due
to lack of state funding. Later in the year, the administration
instructed students and employees to turn in keys to rooms and buildings
in preparation for an end-of-term school closing.
On April 22, the Illinois state legislature, as part of a broader
state-wide $600 million “emergency” funding package, approved $20
million for CSU. While this measure provides some relief, the funds
approved for CSU are less than 60% of what it expected to receive during
this fiscal year, and not enough to prevent layoffs and additional cuts.
Not all of the $20 million is immediately available to the school, and
some funds need to be used immediately to pay off existing debts
incurred since the funding freeze began 10 months ago.
The package calls for state universities to split $356 million, while
community colleges are to receive $74 million. That amounts to a roughly
70 percent cut compared to the funding bill passed by the state
legislature that Rauner vetoed in 2015. Some $170 million is targeted
for Monetary Award Program scholarships for low-income students who were
denied payment during the funding freeze.
During 2016, CSU implemented program cuts because of lack of funds.
Administrative costs have been reduced 20%, and the school’s spring term
ended two weeks early to ensure students could graduate before the money
ran out.
Paris Griffin, president of Chicago State’s Student Government
Association, told the Columbia Chronicle (the Colombia College student
newspaper) that she is anxious about what the school will look like next
semester. “I am running out of financial aid; I do have a scholarship,
but as of now, [it] will only be able to be used at Chicago State,”
Griffin said. “I have one year left, so there’s no school I will be able
to transfer to that will accept all of my credits. I may not have to
start completely over, but I will have to [do some things] over, and I
honestly don’t have the money or resources to do that.”
“Even though 60 percent of something is better than nothing, we also
know there is no budget in place for 2016-17,” said Chicago State senior
Darren Martin. “So it seems like are we preparing ourselves for another
battle. We don’t know what the future will hold and what will happen
next year.”
Bob Bionaz, president of the University Professionals of Illinois Local
4100, representing about 330 mostly faculty CSU employees, spoke to
local CBS News. The union is bracing for layoffs later this year as
faculty contracts are due to expire this summer. “We’re not affected
yet,” he said, “but this is a blueprint for what we’re going to deal with.”
On April 30, the Rev. Jesse Jackson condemned Rauner for ignoring the
needs of Chicago’s Black and minority communities: “We were deceived in
thinking that we at least had breathing room until the fall. We were
betrayed,” he said. “Given the number of Black and Brown people
involved, it has heavy, heavy racial and sensitivity implications.”
Jackson was accompanied by CSU students and community members at
Chicago’s South Side headquarters of Operation Push.
Two days earlier, a CSU graduating class of 850 students heard Rev.
Jackson at commencement ceremonies. A gathering well attended by the
local media, it took the form of a large protest rally for CSU funding.
Nearly every speaker paid tribute to the CSU students, faculty, and
staff who stand united in the fight against education cutbacks. Despite
the widespread uncertainty they faced over the last year, they mobilized
together, making their voices heard in numerous protests, rallies, and
demonstrations on campus and around the city.
Clearly, the $20 million “emergency” aid package is no more than a token
measure—too little, and too late. Many millions more in funding are
required to repair a system that is seriously broken. Fortunately,
students, faculty and community members understand this and continue to
organize, and drive forward for a real solution.
Campus activists have joined forces with community and labor groups,
combining the struggle for CSU funding with the citywide movements
against police violence, for a $15 minimum wage, and in support of
Chicago teachers. CSU students and faculty played a prominent role in
the April 1 Day of Action on the theme “Fund Our Futures,” attended by
nearly 20,000 teachers and supporters.
South Side community members are organizing through Operation Push,
local churches, and the recently formed Black Committee to Save Chicago
State University, which has held rallies to generate additional support
for full funding of CSU.
“The city of Chicago and the state of Illinois are proving that they do
not value Black lives,” said Joan Fadayiro, an organizer with Black
Youth Project 100 in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “Police
officers are enabled to kill Black women with impunity while Black
community assets such as Chicago State University are divested from.”
The struggle for sufficient state college and university funding is
integrally connected to the broader fight against austerity and Rauner’s
“Turnaround Agenda.” At its core, this is a political struggle against
union-busting, and to defend and expand public education, pensions for
state workers and teachers, and desperately needed social services.
In this fight, the natural allies of students are Chicago teachers and
public workers currently under assault, as well as others fighting for
union rights, against police violence and all forms of racial
discrimination, and others engaged in struggle.
In addition to mobilizing in the streets, the battle needs to find
expression in the political arena, in opposition to both capitalist
parties. Needed gains will not be won by relying on liberal Democrats in
the Chicago city council or the state legislature in Springfield. A
strategy that focuses on lobbying is one that relies on liberal
politicians, and can only yield piecemeal and token results.
Ultimately, the political power of working people in Illinois needs to
be unleashed. This can find expression in independent political
struggle, squarely in opposition to both capitalist parties.
Photo: Chicago Tribune
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May 6, 2016 in Black Liberation, Chicago, students, Uncategorized. Tags:
Chicago State University
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