To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "Chancellor Bob Easter" <chancellor@illinois.edu>

Reply-To: chancellor@illinois.edu
 Subject: Message from Campus Administration

Dear Campus Community:

By now you have read President Ikenberry's letter from Tuesday morning 
sent to staff throughout the University of Illinois. 

The President's message is clear: we must act decisively to offset the 93 
percent shortfall thus far in state appropriations for the fiscal year, 
and to anticipate more long-range stresses on the financial situation that 
supports our fundamental missions. Furloughs address an immediate cash 
need, but they are not an acceptable way of addressing long-term issues.  
Simply stated -- our present commitments exceed the resources that we can 
reasonably expect to have available, and we have no option but to reduce 
expenditures. 

Some decisions will of necessity be made at the campus level, but many 
will have to be made very locally - within departments and colleges. We 
are committed to candid and open conversations that will engage the 
faculty governance process and the academic and civil service staff 
advisory bodies. The decisions we make in the next 12 months will affect 
the nature of this university for decades. Now is the time to act. We 
cannot falter in our resolve.  

Organizations create their future during difficult periods. This is a time 
that will put our intellect and creativity to the test. Our collective 
obligation is to ensure that the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign will emerge from this era as a vigorous, preeminent campus that 
will provide a highly desirable academic home for scholars, students and 
supporting staff. We have done this for 142 years and we will continue to 
do this long past our individual time on this campus. 

Please note that a website is being set up that will address frequently 
asked questions, and will contain more details pertinent to concerns we 
share about meeting the challenges we face. For now, please go here for 
information on furloughs and some additional budget-related material. 
http://www.uillinois.edu/our/news/budget/2010Furlough.cfm.

We are hopeful to have an opportunity to offer voluntary separation plans. 
Look for specifics on those plans within the next two weeks.

Finally, it is clear to us that this is a defining moment in the history 
of this great university. Our mission has not and will not change, but we 
must reinvent the ways in which we deliver on that mission. This is the 
time for thoughtful, positive, and deliberate action and, by coming 
together, we will be defined not by this challenge, but by our response to 
it.

We appreciate all of the work you do to make Illinois the great university 
that it is, and we look forward to addressing these challenges with you. 

Sincerely,

Robert A. Easter
Chancellor and Provost (interim)

Richard Wheeler
Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Designate
Vice Provost This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Chancellor

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