Chicago State Student Leader Unimpressed By Rauner's Push For Budget Deal
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. Bruce Rauner has urged lawmakers to come together and negotiate an end to the budget impasse that, among other things, threatens to shut down Chicago State University, but the head of student government at CSU said faculty and students have been saying that for months.
Paris Griffin, president of the student government association at Chicago State, said there's nothing in the editorial the governor wrote for the Springfield Journal Register that she and others at CSU haven't said since the state's current fiscal year began last July without a spending plan, leaving public universities in Illinois without state funding.
In his op-ed, the governor wrote that state lawmakers should consider various proposals to fund universities and community colleges so Chicago State doesn't have to close, and so other public universities in Illinois don't have to lay off employees.
"Let's start negotiations immediately — whenever, wherever — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — on a bipartisan, balanced budget with a mix of reforms, cost reductions and revenue," he wrote. "This impasse has lasted long enough, but none of us can end it on our own. Only by working together will we be able to enact a balanced budget that makes Illinois both compassionate and competitive for years to come."
Griffin was unimpressed with the governor's words.
"Actually, it's kind of like a 'duh moment' for me. He's saying things in his letter that we've been saying for nine months; that everyone should put their political differences aside and come together to provide a safe budget for higher education and social services, and these are things that we've been saying for nine months," she said.
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Griffin said it's almost too late for a state budget deal to help Chicago State, which already has sent layoff notices to all 900 employees, and canceled spring break and moved up the end of the spring semester so graduating students can receive their diplomas before the school might have to shut down.
She said both the governor and lawmakers share the blame for the budget impasse, and its effect on Chicago State, and she sees no reason for new hope from the governor's words.
"It sounds like empty promises and false hope. I'm not encouraged at all by his letter, no," she said.
