Eastern’s Council on University Planning and Budget has planned a series of open forums this week regarding the current draft of the furlough policy.

Karen Drage, an assistant professor for the School of Technology, is a member of the CUPB.

“The focus of the open forums is to continue to collect comments on the draft furlough policy,” Drage said. “The comments received through the open forums will be recorded and presented to the CUPB at the regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 15.

“EIU is in unchartered waters. There is simply no one-size-fits-all furlough policy. Other universities across the country have implemented furloughs, but EIU has to contemplate what is best for our campus community.”

President Bill Perry addressed the economic state of Eastern in an e-mail sent to all members of the campus community on Thursday.

“The state continues to fall behind in its delivery of appropriations to us and the other state universities,” Perry said.

So far Eastern has received approximately $6 million of an appropriation of more than $50 million, or almost one-eighth of the total sum allotted.

“We have budgeted conservatively this year, have continued to seek cost savings, and have sought to expend funds conservatively,” Perry said.

The CUPB established a cost containment subcommittee to evaluate cost containment suggestions collected through the council Web site last year and this year.

“This subcommittee will be working diligently to implement some cost saving measures across campus,” Drage said.

She said the CUPB would continue to advise President Perry that furloughs should be the last resort.

“Neither furloughs nor layoffs are being implemented at this time,” Perry said in the e-mail. “Our goal is to take every action we can short of furlough or layoff to meet our mission of educational excellence and protect the livelihoods of our faculty and staff.”

Whatever the outcome, Drage said the negotiations will have an impact on the campus community.

“The message the furlough policy and the negotiations convey to our students, the parents of our current and future students, alumni, and the campus community will probably have more affect on our campus community than the policy itself.”

There are three forums scheduled before the meeting on Friday.

Two forums are scheduled for 10 a.m. and noon today and a third is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday in Phipps Auditorium in the Physical Sciences building.

If any members of the campus community are unable to attend the open forums, a comment form and a copy of the current draft is available at http://www.eiu.edu/~eiucupb/.

Jason Hardimon can be reached at 581-7902 or jrhardimon2@eiu.edu.