We made it to Florida and are enjoying the warm weather and sunny skies. Thought I would take a few minutes and throw out a “stream of conscious” paragraph or two on the topic folks ask me about the most–the state of Western Illinois University.
These are my thoughts, and I take full and complete blame for them. I have been absent from the Western scene in a direct manner for pretty much the past five years since cancellation of the TV show Across the Miles. That does not mean I don’t care about the health of my undergraduate alma mater because other than my family, Western is of the utmost importance to me. I assume the same holds true for the people who stop me on my walks, call, email, and text me asking “What’s up, Gord?” I respond as best I can. Let’s be candid, the health of Western today is not good. Over the past decade, we have not just lost students, but rather we hemorrhaged them by the thousands. Not hundreds mind you but thousands. Retention is not what it should be and town/gown relations have been, at best, strained. Higgins and Wetzel have been imploded. Tanner, Bayliss, and Henninger are empty and Married Student Housing is gone.
I’m told campus morale is low and folks both in Macomb and the Quad Cities are nervous about the future of Western Illinois University. No finger pointing here, that’s simply the way it is, at least as I see it. The facts speak for themselves, so what to do? Like many people, I worry about all this. My entire career has been Western. I went to school here, was an R.A., met Diane, raised three kids, attended WIU events whenever possible, went to movies at the Lark and Illinois, dined at Damone’s, Vitale’s, the Red Ox, and the Jackson Street Pub. I taught in the College of Business for 8 years, and then had the best job at Western as the “alumni guy” traveling the country espousing all that was good about W.I.U. I had a local-access TV interview show, raised a little money for Western, and even drank a beer or two with Ranger White at Lake Argyle State Park. I have truly been blessed which takes us to the present.
Thankfully, there is a new team in town and Interim President Martin Abraham is doing his best to “stem the tide.” I need to be frank here. I don’t know if Martin is “the right guy.” He was supposed to come as Provost then lightning struck, and he was Acting President, and now Interim President but regardless of how he got where he is, Abraham is “our guy.” We all need to support him. That is the nature of things and none of us can afford to waste time finger pointing or questioning past choices and decisions. We need to forge ahead and get behind the “Abraham Team” and help out in any way we can. As an aside, I found it “odd” at best that the Board of Trustees didn’t just name the man President and be done with it. The Board could have sent a message to everyone. “You’re our man so get out there and do the job.” But no, we elected to figuratively kick the can down the road and tell the poor guy, “Well, you’ll do for now, you can apply for the job on a permanent basis if you want, but keep looking in the rear view mirror in case we need someone to blame for the difficult decisions that lie ahead.”
Hopefully, there is a solid core of administrators and faculty remaining who are up to the task of getting more students to come our way and then, when here, keeping them here through new and innovative recruitment and retention strategies. If asked, our alumni will do their part so ask us, we are here either in Macomb or around the country–lots of bright, creative people with ideas and energy.
About town/gown–I hear a lot about that and some criticisms were well-founded. Those days are behind us. Since the day he was elected, Mayor Mike Inman has been a willing partner in reaching out to Western but it takes “two to tango.” Good news abounds as Abraham and Inman are everywhere together. If you didn’t know better, you would assume they were brothers. Chalk this up to a huge positive as we move forward. Yes, there are racial tensions and both the President and Mayor are aware of this, and both men are working mightily to resolve them. I applaud them both.
So, the good news is, people are trying, they really are, and I suppose I am doing my part by exiting Macomb until the first of April. I told you we could all help. Just prior to leaving for Florida I had the good fortune to interview Interim (let’s get rid of that and make it permanent) President Abraham on the local access TV show Macomb on the Move. It was 70 minutes of getting to know the man, learn about his past, and his vision for the future. He’s a busy fellow, but he took the time to sit down with me and just talk and that says something about the character of Martin Abraham. All I had to do was tell him it was another way to “reach out” and by golly, he was there. As the 4th Quarter keeps ticking along, my hope is that I’m around to see “not the Western that was but rather the new and revitalized Western of which we can all be proud.” Time for a walk.
Gordy and the Fourth Quarter 