Chicago State To Cancel Spring Break
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Faced with a growing budget crisis, Chicago State University plans to cancel spring break and accelerate the end of the semester before the school runs out of cash.
According to spokesman Tom Wogan, the plan is to end the semester on April 30, instead of May 15. Finals will take place the final week of April, and graduation will take place on April 28.
President Thomas Calhoun Jr., in a memo to the university community said: "As we all are aware, the budget stalemate in Springfield continues to be a major concern for the Chicago State University community. Please be assured that the university is doing all it can to minimize disruption and anxiety.
He said all eligible students would receive proper academic credit and respective degrees.
Calhoun told CBS 2, "We cannot spend what we do not have and so we obviously have to be in cost cutting mode in order to extend what we have in the absence of a state allocation."
Spring break was scheduled from March 14-19.
Chicago State University Spring Break
Earlier this month, university officials said the school would have to shut down on March 1, unless a budget agreement was reached with Springfield.
Approximately 4,000 students are currently enrolled at CSU.
"If the students really want the school to stay, surviving, then sometimes you have to cooperate with whatever measures it is that you have to do," said engineering student Lauren Cureton.
In January, Gov. Bruce Rauner said CSU was "throwing money down the toilet" and was unwilling to make reforms.
"They have the widest achievement gap between white students and African American students of any college. That is wrong," Rauner said.
A memo released by the governor's offices said 83 percent of white CSU students graduate in six years, compared with 19 percent of African-American students.
The university president responded in a letter said that statistical comparison is misleading and that Chicago State is willing to discuss reforms.
"For them to all of a sudden go, 'Hey, we're sorta more broke than most,' while they've been throwing money down the toilet -- you know what? Let's have some standards of behavior," Rauner said,
