Updates and Next Steps

Dear Colleagues,

This has been an extraordinary year and we should all be very proud of the work that faculty, staff and students have done on behalf of our university.  The public education day was a success in that we reached out to stakeholders, civic leaders, journalists, philanthropists and elected officials to begin a conversation about the importance of public higher education at a research university. We succeeded in obtaining a resolution from the City Council recognizing our contributions to the city of Chicago, the Sun Times editorial board wrote an editorial supporting our efforts. We were mentioned in various media outlets including the New York Times and WBEZ.

Our lobby day in Springfield was a great success.  We went with the University wide alumni association, and UIC was far better represented then the rest of the university system, including our rural sister campus UIUC.     Students, staff, faculty and administrators from UIC spoke with elected officials and held a press conference.   We felt as if we were successful at helping our elected officials to understand that UIC is a world-class research institution, and one that has managed to succeed at offering a world-class research intensive education to the youth of Chicago and the state of Illinois.

The state has paid the university part of the money they owe us. But it is far from over. Immediately the budget is being decided now, and we need one final push in the next few days. We are asking everyone to please place a call to Speaker Michael Madigan’s office and email Senator leader John Cullerton and Governor Patrick Quinn reminding them of the importance of public higher education as they deliberate.

We hope to be able to meet early on in the fall semester to plan a year long set of public education activities. We will keep you posted. In the meantime, it has been great getting to know our colleagues and students in a little different way.

Speaker Michael Madigan

Capitol Office 9297041 5255965
300 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-5350

Senator John Cullerton

Email: John@senatorcullerton.com

327 State House
Springfield, IL 62706

Fax: 217.782.2230

Office: 217.782.2728
Governor Patrick Quinn Pat.Quinn@Illinois.gov