The Illinois Board of Higher Education met at Kishwaukee Community College Tuesday morning for its October conference.

It was the first time the IBHE has met at Kishwaukee.

The agenda consisted of presentations from faculty and students representing four Illinois schools, as well as reports from various advisery committees.

One of the leading issues was an impending budget crunch caused by an expected state budget shortfall.

“Our ability to deal with these financial challenges is going to determine whether we retain our rank as one of the premier states providing education to our youngsters,” IBHE Chairman Steven Lesnik said. “We’re trying to recognize that dollars will be scarce in the years ahead, and we have to find ways to get as much out of our resources as we can.”

With a state budget deficit of $500 million this year and an estimated $2.5 billion crisis looming ahead, according to the Chicago Tribune, the IBHE has to increase the quality of education using fewer resources.

“We are asking colleges and universities to do more with less,” said IBHE Executive Director Daniel LaVista.

Along those lines, the IBHE is concerned with the affordability of higher education. In order to understand the potential challenges, the IBHE commissioned the Committee on Affordability. This new group will spend a year compiling a report detailing the costs of higher education in Illinois, as well as what universities, the state and students can do to make school more affordable. The committee holds its first meeting on Wednesday.

Financial concerns weren’t the only issues addressed, though. LaVista updated the board on the subject of faculty hiring.

“We have begun our work on faculty diversity,” he said. “Our first faculty diversity hearing was held last week at [University of Illinois-Springfield].”

The Faculty Diversity committee will focus on three main issues. The first concerns determining the availability of minority faculty. Then, they will review the hiring process and campus leadership. Finally, they study the retention rate for minority faculty.

“[At the last meeting] we heard testimony from a good balance of folks,” LaVista said. “[We heard from] folks who are operating now as leadership figures at professional schools, faculty and administrators and we heard from affirmative-action officers.”

These points will be discussed in depth at the committee’s second meeting on Friday. The next meeting for the IBHE as a whole is Dec. 10. By then, the financial picture for the future will be more clear and the board will make changes accordingly.

“I think we realize that the fiscal times we’re facing, regardless of who’s elected governor, regardless of what’s going on in the world, are going to be very difficult and very challenging,” Lesnik said. Star Poll