The Council on University Planning and Budgeting have decided the recommendations to be sent to the president’s council to be considered when deciding where the cuts will be made.

The CUPB endorsed two of the three-subcommittee recommendations including excluding the academic affairs subcommittee. Despite the lack of endorsement, all three recommendations were accepted as written.

Some of the members had difficulties with aspects of all three-recommendation lists. Asege HaileMariam, a psychology professor, said she could not vote in support of any subcommittee recommendation lists. She said there were parts in each one she could not agree with.

The president’s council will be looking over everything including the various budgets and program analyses across campus as well as the recommendations CUPB made when deciding the $8 million needed to be cut over the next couple of years. Of the $8 million, $1 million will be reallocated into programs, which need the appropriations more.

President Bill Perry said what those in the state congress decide on when it comes to higher education allocations would affect the cuts made at Eastern. He added others in higher education as well as himself have been advocating to congressmen for level or increased state funding for higher education.

“We are going to be looking at everything. (The recommendations) are going to be an important part, but they might not have addressed some things that can help us,” Perry said.

Bill Weber, the vice president for business affairs, said the attrition will also play a big role in how many cuts are made. He added the recent state pension reform has spiked a significant increase in faculty looking to retire. While next year’s budget already had a certain amount of attrition built in, those looking to retire are exceeding that number. The current retirement numbers are in the mid-70s. The average attrition is usually 60 faculty members.

“I am not going to be surprised if it hits higher than that,” Weber said. “When you hit about 90, then you are at the point when are talking about 5 percent of our workforce.”

The president’s council will have solidified recommendations to present to the Board of Trustees at their June 6 meeting.

At the meeting, each CUPB subcommittee provided recommendations to enhance the university in their area.

The business affairs, president’s area and university advancement subcommittee reviewed the possibility of creating a metric system that would make each program and building on campus more efficient.

Kathlene Shank, the special education department chairwoman, said these menus of metrics could be used to measure efficiencies.

“All of us should be assessing what we’re doing and the processes we are responsible for to make sure we are efficient,” Shank said.

They also recommended Eastern focus on soliciting contributions from alumni for scholarships.

The student affairs subcommittee recommended allocating any additional funds student affairs to provide programming to keep retention at Eastern. The academic affairs subcommittee recommended reallocating funds to programs that demonstrate they have more qualified applicants than resources to fulfill those needs.

CUPB will meet again for the last time of the semester at 2 p.m. May 2 in Room 4440 in Booth Library.

Jarad Jarmon can be reached at 581-2812 or jsjarmon@eiu.edu.