Southern Illinois University and the state's other public universities have come out in opposition to the state's proposed pension reform plan.
In a note to university faculty and staff, SIU President Glenn Poshard says after analyzing the new bill the state's university presidents and chancellors have agreed that the bill will be detrimental to the needs of higher education and to the state's public university employees. Poshard says the plan (SB-1), backed by a special legislative committee, goes well beyond the original six-point plan that was proposed by the state's university leaders.
A letter sent Monday by public university leaders to Governor Quinn says the approach to COLA that the proposed pension plan takes and the cap on pensionable salaries, will have a severe impact on the retirement security of faculty and staff in the state's public universities. They will adversely affect the state university system's collective ability to recruit and retain the people needed to educate the next generation of workers and entrepreneurs, as well as provide health care for the state’s neediest citizens, and build new startup companies and create jobs through university research. The letter concludes that the proposed reform plan would be detrimental to higher education in Illinois and ultimately to the overall economy of the State.
