June 3, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

As you may have seen in the media, the legislative session in Springfield reached its deadline Sunday without an agreement on a state budget for fiscal 2016, which begins July 1. The expectation is that lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner will return to the Capitol as soon as this week to resume negotiations on the budget and other unresolved issues.

This development was not unexpected, and it’s not the first time a spring legislative session has gone into summer “overtime.”

I will be working with our governmental relations and budgeting staff in the coming weeks to continue to make the case for adequate, responsible state support of the University of Illinois, and for all of public higher education in Illinois. As recently as last week I convened a group of leaders from the state’s public universities to meet with legislative leaders and Gov. Rauner’s chief of staff to reiterate our collective value to the state as well as our nation. I am confident our message was heard, and we will continue the work to advance higher education as among the state’s priorities.

Sincerely,

Timothy Killeen
President