Emergency funding will help Western Illinois University, but it's still not enough. That was the reaction from WIU officials on Monday to the signing by the governor of a funding bill approved by the General Assembly last week.
Matt Bierman, interim vice president for administrative services, says the money is barely one-third of what WIU normally receives from the state each year.
He calls it a "stop-gap measure" that'll be enough just to get the university through the summer.
Bierman says so far WIU has issued layoff notices to 147 employees, including 30 faculty, plus clerks, custodians, and other staff.
In a normal year, Western Illinois University depends on the state for 20 per cent of its overall budget, or about 40 per cent of what's considered the instructional budget.
The emergency funding from the state includes 5 million dollars for the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grants for students - less than half of the 11 million used by students last year at the Macomb and Quad Cities campuses.
