Goldsmith and Dunn stressed union contracts and bargaining schedules will be honored. Programs will be taught out prior to being cut.

“Nothing you see of these reductions should be read as intending to contravene any required steps for winding down program operations,” he said in the email.

Dunn noted SIU already has saved more than $4 million by not filling 80 positions left vacant this year.

It’s been more than eight months since SIU and other public colleges and universities have received any state funding. Dunn has said SIU can hobble through to the end of the fiscal year without a payment, but the lack of funding will leave a lasting impact.

“If we end up seeing no budget at all in these remaining months of FY16, it will take us years to get those paybacks done,” he said, referring specifically to the internal borrowing the university has had to do this year.

In the “almost-unbelievable event” that lawmakers fail to pass an FY17 budget until after the November election, Dunn said the university can expect $5.72 million in additional cuts to carry the university through Dec. 31, including elimination of all state support to the School of Law and to the vice chancellor for development and alumni relations.

One-third of the School of Law’s budget is derived from state support. Eliminating those funds from the vice chancellor’s office could result in the loss of 50 additional jobs. Administrators warned private support for SIU may wane if that office’s size is diminished.

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