Ordinarily, a $60 million funding cut wouldn't be terribly good news.
But Thursday's approval of a budget deal in Springfield prompted a collective sigh of relief across the University of Illinois, where faculty departures were escalating and several major construction projects shut down July 1 — including the massive reconstruction of Green Street in front of the Illini Union.
"This was a very important day for us. We're very pleased with the vote and the fact that we now have a budget," UI President Tim Killeen said immediately after legislators narrowly overrode Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of the $36 billion spending plan, which includes a $5 billion income tax increase.
"This feels to me a little bit like hands have been untied and we can move forward with our plans," Killeen said.
The story was reported by the Champaign News-Gazette on July 7, 2017.
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