State universities are reacting differently to the recent budget cuts by the state, but Eastern is not likely to eliminate any staff.

Interim President Lou Hencken is hoping to start the next semester without having any layoffs or very few positions lost.

“We want to avoid it if we can,” Hencken said.

Sometime in July, the President’s Council will determine goals for next year. The goals will then be shared with the campus and with the Board of Trustees. The most important thing that Eastern is dealing with as far as goals for next year is keeping the academic quality at the university, Hencken said.

One option that will be looked at is the possibility of consolidating some positions and looking at non-teaching positions to see what can be done with those positions.

While Eastern and Western Illinois University are both facing cuts of around $2 million, Southern Illinois University is projecting a $23 million cut, and University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is staring at an $23 million cut, according to reports in The Daily Egyptian and The Daily Illini.

The Daily Illini reported this week that University of Illinois is already expecting to lose up to 400 positions and as many as 85 permanent, full-time faculty positions.

Southern Illinois University has not estimated a specific amount of possible positions lost but it is expected that some university jobs will be cut and that some classes could be done away with.

The Western Courier at Western Illinois reported the following reaction from Interim President David Taylor on the budget cuts.

“I’m surprised that we did see another $2 million cut in funding for Western Illinois University,” Western Interim President David Taylor said. “I am very, very disappointed. The reason is Western Illinois University, in good faith, has done many of the things (Senator Steven Rauschenberger) and others … have asked higher education to do.”