Rock Island Today

The newly appointed president of Western Illinois University (WIU), Dr. Guiyou Huang, renewed his commitment and confidence in the institution. 

This statement of confidence comes amidst calls from the mayor of Moline as well as the Quad City Chamber of Commerce for a new partner to take over the institution. Huang assumed the position at WIU on Jan. 1 of this year. Huang stated “I want to learn about that campus. I want to hear the community’s perspective on it, and our strategic plan will reflect very clearly the concerns that have been raised over the last several years.” 

Among the most apparent challenges for WIU is the low enrollment and lack of presence on campus, according to Wilkinson Egger, who works as a business project manager for the campus. Egger said “It’s a beautiful campus and it’s amazing.” Egger also believes that simply having more people on campus will help, “Showing off their faces and smiling, just really making this feel like a community environment, because you walk in there and it's fairly desolate right now.”  

Enrollment at the Quad City campus has been significantly declining in recent years. In the spring of 2015, the institution enrolled approximately 1,100 students. This year, that figure has dropped to around 250.  

For student Torrence Johnson, he says that he selected WIU for the smaller class sizes and to receive a more individualized education for himself. “This is the school that I chose to go to. With this campus we're more on the business tech to engineering side of degrees. So with that the class load is more.” Johnson believes this also contributes to the lack of community presence at WIU, adding “we can't really be more athletic. We can't really be more vibrant because we're all working.” 

In the face of these challenges for the school, Huang remains confident that the institution will rise to the occasion. Huang said “We are one university, serving one mission. We will be able to make a firm commitment to the future of that campus.”