Standing before a swell of faculty and administrators, President Bill Perry addressed the two dark clouds hovering over Eastern, that being state support and enrollment.

In addition to these challenges, the uncertain outcome of Illinois pension reform also garnered a spot in Perry’s speech during “The Coming Year Faculty Reception” Thursday in the Grand Ballroom at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Before describing the main issues Eastern faces this year, Perry quoted a former colleague who said, “Every silver lining has a cloud.” Several in attendance chuckled at the reversed phrase, eagerly waiting to hear what toils are in store for the campus community.

State support for higher education was the first “cloud” Perry addressed.

“State support has declined and will likely continue to decline through reduced appropriations, or in the case of the state of Illinois, maintaining the assumption of normal costs in the pension system to universities,” he said.

Fiscal Year 2013 state appropriations to Eastern total about $44 million, a decrease of 6.1 percent, Perry said, adding that the amount is about $3 million less than last year.

“We are gradually being asked to provide outstanding education with less and less funds,” he said.

Cheryl Noll, a professor and department chairperson of the School of Business, found a silver lining in Perry’s comment.

“With limited resources, being asked to do more with less presents us with a unique opportunity to strive more for what we need to accomplish,” she said.

As the state struggles to pass pension reform to offset a growing unfunded liability of $85 billion, Eastern could face an additional $20 million burden if required to assume normal costs.

Normal cost is the amount needed to fund a year of retirement benefits for an employee.

“Our consistent position has been that a deal’s a deal, and the state should honor the individual contracts it made with the employees that entered into it in good faith,” Perry said.

He added that he, along with other university presidents, would agree to assume some of the normal costs on the condition that it was phased in and if employees would not be required to lose any benefits.

Ann Fritz, a professor of biology and the president of Eastern’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois, said the financial issues affect the peace of mind of all Eastern community members.

“The fiscal challenges are on all of our minds, not just in terms of institutional budget,” she said. “It affects the morale of employees with potential pension actions, causing insecurities to rise.”

In order to increase awareness of political happenings that affect Eastern, Perry said a “Legislative Affairs” webpage was added to the university website.

Enrollment served as the second “cloud” in Perry’s speech. The 10-day census numbers used to measure enrollment have not yet been released, but Perry said they are looking at a decrease in students.

Several strategies to increase recruitment and enrollment efforts will continue throughout the year, he said.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.