Starting next week, non-union staff at Northeastern Illinois University will be required to take a day off every week, without pay.
State universities have not received any of their usual appropriations because of the state budget impasse.
Schools like Northeastern “are on the edge of the cliff,” James Applegate, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, told WBEZ in early March. “When they will actually lose their balance and fall off the cliff, it’s difficult to say a date.”
Both Eastern and Western Illinois Universities have already imposed mandatory, unpaid time-off for some staff.
Faculty at all three schools have a union, which has been negotiating possible terms, like a salary deferral; that would give professors back pay if and when the state appropriation comes through.
All faculty and staff at Chicago State University received layoff notices in late February.
Dan Weissmann is a staff reporter for WBEZ. Follow him @danweissmann.
