Chris: Before I moved to Illinois

Chris Kennedy

Robert,
Northeastern Illinois University recently announced that it is laying off 25% of its administrative and civil service staff. A day later, Southern Illinois University announced layoffs for more than 50 employees. This week, DePaul University announced it has cut 28 staff in light of declining enrollment.
These layoffs are a direct result of Illinois’ failure to pass a budget.
Our universities have the potential to be a perpetual job-creation machine. I’ve seen firsthand how it works.
Before I moved to Illinois, I lived in Boston where research universities have driven the rebirth of an economy over and over again by unleashing the transformative power of their great research institutions. During my time with the University of Illinois, we worked to develop the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation lab out of the University’s Research Park, which has made Champaign Urbana a leading city for startups.
Other states treat their universities as economic engines, as talent magnets, as competitive advantages. Illinois’ government sees our universities as cost centers whose budgets should be cut and slashed and perhaps the entire system privatized.
The government’s cuts to higher ed are pushing Illinois students to go to school in places like Iowa or Wisconsin or Indiana or Kentucky. States that are investing in their colleges and universities use them as bait to lure in and forever capture the best and the brightest minds of college-aged students from Illinois.
Seventy percent of college students get their first job in the state in which they go to school. Once they start work in another state, they may never return home.
We can embrace a far different path to our future. By investing in our universities, we can restore opportunity and jobs for people across our state.
Thank you,
Chris
 
 





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