Online growth worries U. of I. Springfield .

Today's article comes from the Chicago Sun-Times. BY DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter.

Faculty at the University of Illinois' little-known Springfield campus believe the school could soon be in the fight of its life. The potential foe? The university itself -- in the form of a new "Global Campus."

As the U. of I. system struggles to join the online world, the board of trustees is scheduled to vote today on whether to launch a Global Campus.

But at Springfield, where 20 percent of students already have online majors, faculty fear the move will siphon away students.

"Competition with UIS online programs has the potential to seriously harm the UIS campus," faculty said in a resolution last month.

More than 40 percent, or 2,100, UIS students are enrolled in at least one online course.
Campus senate vice chair Terry Bodenhorn worries that even high-quality programs could get drowned out by Global Campus marketing, which has a budget of up to $10 million a year.

The faculty also noted that top U. of I. brass have said they are prepared to partner with schools outside the system, such as Illinois State University, to offer online degrees.

"Spending [U. of I.] resources to fund one of our main competitors does not make much sense to us," the faculty noted.

The UIS faculty also believe the proposed model of using part-time, non-tenured faculty to teach professional courses in such areas as nursing and education "seems educationally limited and outdated."

Meeting demand Chester Gardner, who is spearheading the effort to create the Global Campus, said competition with existing programs could be necessary to meet demand.

"Online education is a competitive arena," he said.

The school would partner with another university only if existing programs were unable or unwilling to grow to meet demand, he said.

Even with their concerns, members of the Springfield faculty gave their support to the principle behind the Global Campus, saying they recognized the need for expanded online learning.

Faculty senates on the Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses also endorsed that principle.
dnewbart@suntimes.com