- [Announcer] Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

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- I was most nonpolitical, political maneuvering is happening right now and Western Illinois University trying to rebound in enrollment in the cities.

(upbeat music) As Illinois faces lawsuits over its redistricting plans under a super majority in the legislature of Democrats, I was carving up it's new districts with no political influence at all.

Well, at least not yet.

The Iowa Legislative Services Agency is tasked by the constitution and the State Code to draw up new legislative and congressional districts free from political influence.

But, next week, a special session of the legislature will meet to approve or reject that plan.

That's where the politics may get involved.

If lawmakers vote down the plan, it's back to the drawing board and if that's rejected, the LSA goes at it once again, but will it come to that?

We talked with the Head of the Iowa Republican Party about that and Senator Chuck Grassley's decision to run for office once again.

Here's Jeff Kaufmann.

I want to talk about redistricting, but obviously the big Iowa political news is Chuck Grassley saying he's gonna run for reelection.

Some might say he's been in office too long, what do you say to that?

- Well, honestly, Chuck Grassley can out-think me, he can outwork me and I'll guarantee it, he can outrun me.

Another six years in the Iowa Senate, it's piece of cake for this fellow.

No, I don't buy that at all.

In fact, be honest with y'all.

I think it's a little bit of a age bias to say that, when you have someone that's so clearly affective doing the 99 County Tour.

No, I mean, the decision that he made was a deliberate one.

He took time to make that decision and listen, whether it should be this way or not.

The United States Senate is based on seniority.

That's the way it is, whether it should be or not, that's a whole another discussion, but it is.

Iowa, there's more people ride the New York city subway that live in the state of Iowa.

For Iowa to have one of the longest serving senators, and actually the longest serving Senator in the GOP caucus gives us a greater than life voice in Washington DC.

And that's exactly what the Hawkeye State needs.

I'm excited.

- What does it say to those that believe in term limits among Republicans?

- Well, I mean, we don't have term limits right now.

I mean, again, I would say within the, if we had term limits, then this decision would've been made, Chuck Grassley would not have to have taken as long as he did to make up his mind.

But I'll tell you, when I hear the debate back and forth with term limits, and it is a legitimate issue for Republicans and Democrats within their party to disagree.

But I can tell you, the one time when people push back on term limits is, what about Chuck Grassley?

Because if we ended term limits, but did not end the seniority system in the Senate, that would be a problem.

So, as long as we have a seniority system in the Senate, we need to make sure that Iowa sends its longest serving.

Quite frankly, Jim, that's the reason why a lot of Democrats voted for and will still vote for Chuck Grassley.

And I will have to admit it's the reason why a lot of Republicans voted for Tom Harkin because they realized even though they may not have had 100% agreement, they realized that that gave Iowa the loudest voice that we could possibly have in Washington DC.

- Let's talk about our main topic, though.

And that's the redistricting maps that came out from the legislative services agency.

On first blush and now that you've had a chance to look at it a little bit longer, are Republicans gonna support it?

Does the party support it?

- They're having discussions right now.

The party is neutral on this.

I definitely, I went through the, first of all, as a former legislator, I went through this process back in 2010.

There are going to be Republicans that support this map.

There are gonna be Republicans that do not, and I'm a, you know, as the party chair, I'm going to let them make up their minds.

I'm gonna make sure if they have questions, that, you know, I'm able to help answer those, but I'm gonna let them decide at the state house.

There's, you know, with any map, there's gonna be good and there's gonna be bad and there's gonna be multiple considerations.

This just, isn't a matter of saying, you know, are the Republicans gonna hold the legislature in this?

But look, here's the simple fact, the Republicans have such a strong hold on the legislature, right now.

It really doesn't matter if we use this map or map two or map three, it's gonna be favorable to Republicans.

We know that.

So the bottom, all you gotta do is look at the districts, the new districts that come out and the districts that Trump won.

It's overwhelming.

What we need to do is, we need to take into account a variety.

Let me give you an example, Jim.

In 2010, I voted against the first map that was ultimately adopted.

I lost on that vote, and I'll tell you why.

And it's a district that my son has won five times.

So, I hardly have any problem with the district politically, but I didn't like the fact that my small rural county of Cedar was almost an ad-on to the larger core of the old Iowa city urban area.

I didn't think that voted well for the district that I represented.

So, I voted no to that.

So, there are many considerations that have to be taken into account and not all of them revolve around partisan breakdown.

- You are a political animal, of course.

So, taking a look at those congressional districts, the new district one, lumps, not only, the Quad cities with Iowa city, but Cedar Rapids as well.

Do you think that's gonna be, very tough district for Republicans to win in the future with those three democratic leaning cities?

- Sure.

I mean, that's it.

There's always, in Eastern Iowa, there are going to be districts that are gonna be difficult for Republicans to win or for Democrats to win.

I mean, look at the, our current second district.

I mean, Miller-Meeks tried four times before she won.

I would say that, you know, I would say, that lumping three large urban areas together, I don't know.

If a person's from Cedar County or Muscatine County or a small rural county that's a, you know, there reasons there to have problems with that map, Based on that.

On the other hand, we have large urban areas in Muscatine county.

Oh, I'm sorry, in the first district and surrounding Muscatine and Cedar County.

We do have the Quad Cities.

We do have Cedar Rapids and Iowa city.

And so, we are going to get some districts that are more urban than others.

Again, I'm not trying to hence the issue, Jim, what I'm trying to say is, there are going to be reasons for Republicans to support the current map that's in the first district and there are gonna be reasons to not support that and it's gonna be, I predict there's not gonna be a unanimous vote either way, on any of the maps, if this first map is not accepted.

- Well, when you take a look at the state districts, the legislative districts, the state Senate, and the state representative districts.

And here's the thing, is that, it may not be, you know, favoring the Democrats or the Republicans, but it certainly doesn't seem to be favoring incumbents.

Some 60 state seats, estimated by The Des Moines Register, would have contested incumbents placed in the same district, 60 seats.

I shouldn't say 60, I should say 60 incumbents, rather.

60 incumbents, not 60 seats.

- And, and that is, I believe that is a higher than what you would normally expect.

Although, I remember I was a leader in the legislature in 2010, and there is nothing more difficult than having two friends, two colleagues, two people, that that are possibly even in, I know in 2010, we had two people that sat next to each other in legislature that now are running against one another.

And so, we're not gonna escape that.

I mean, yes, this map has several of those.

Map number two may not have quite as many, but there will be several.

I don't think we're ever gonna get away from that kind of a situation.

And certainly, from a Republican perspective, we're not gonna get away from that.

When you have 32 Republican senators and after the Newton race, if we end up winning that, which it looks like we will, there's gonna be 60, that are going, 60 Republicans.

You're going to have Republican incumbents having to run against one another.

What ensues after that is a lot of conversation.

I believe it's a little more difficult, quite frankly, in the rural areas, because if somebody asks where I'm from, I don't say that I'm from district 73.

I say that I'm from Cedar County or maybe Sugar Creek Township, as we were talking about ahead of time, but in the urban areas, you're from Cedar Rapids or you're from Marion or you're from Davenport or you're from Bettendorf.

And so, it's a little easier sometimes for incumbents to be able to be a little bit more mobile in those urban areas and still serve in a due form.

So, I would imagine there'll be all kinds of talks and negotiations along those lines.

But first thing that has to happen is, you got to know where those district lines are.

And remember, the Supreme court has said, December 1st.

So, we have to have this process done on December 1st.

- Well, as you said, you're a lawmaker in the past and you did vote against it 10 years ago, when it last came up.

Is it tough politically, to vote against it?

Because so many people are saying, oh, we're so happy that it's done this way in Iowa.

It takes the politics out, vote for this map and move on.

Is that like some added pressure for a lawmaker, right now?

Especially with the way the electorate feels towards politicians that, yeah, we do have to vote for this, even if it may not be in my best interest.

- I don't think so, because as long as the vote is based on what is in your district's best interest.

So, in other words, I can see a person from, I'm sitting here in Cedar County, in this new first district.

I can see a justification for a legislator voting yes, from Cedar County.

You know, given the fact that there are urban areas, given the fact that Eastern Iowa has urban areas, it's part of what I think makes Eastern Iowa strong.

At the same time, if I'm sitting in Cedar County, Iowa, you tell me if the vast, vast majority of the first district is based on Cedar Rapids, Iowa city and Davenport, and all of the surrounding areas.

How strong is my voice gonna be heard, especially on those issues that break rural urban.

The point I'm making, Jim, is, there is a justification for voting yes, there's a justification for voting no.

Here's, I think, what people don't want.

And that is a last minute ninth inning change in the process.

The process that we have that has worked very well has always involved the potential of three maps.

And we have done that in the past.

We have turned down the first map.

In fact, there's one situation where we turned down the first two maps.

So, as long as we don't try to actually gerrymander.

Where we actually deviate and you actually, the legislature itself actually sits down and draws those lines.

As long as those ninth inning changes don't happen.

I think people realize this is a long, drawn out process.

It's a fair process, it's been tested.

And once again, I would, I think it's important People know, that the first map and even the second map had been turned down in the past.

And remember, the end result is not the politicians.

The end result is the courts.

- Well, the Democrats are saying, if you're in a district with another Democrat, don't think of putting up a for sale sign.

In other words, don't think about moving out of the district.

Don't do anything rash right now.

What are you telling campaigns right now?

- Absolutely.

That's what I would say.

Let the legislature do its work.

we only have a couple of months to wait, let them study it.

Both caucuses, the democratic caucus and the Republican caucus are discussing this all the time.

I found it very, very peculiar that the democratic minority leader let like 30 minutes go by and said, I'm in favor of it.

Well, you don't even have time to analyze at that point.

That's a political statement in and of itself.

But the bottom line is let them study it.

I have not heard a definitive comment and all I can speak to, is Republicans.

I haven't heard a definitive comment on the part of either Jack Whitver the majority leader, or Pat Grassley the house speaker as to where they are leaning.

All they're telling us is they're studying and believe me, I was in Des Moines yesterday.

I can tell you that both those gentlemen and their entire caucuses are heavily involved in taking a look at this map and the multiple factors that occur.

So, absolutely, hold on, take a time out, and remember up until next January, I'm sorry, up until November.

All of these districts are going to be, the districts we have right now still deserve representation.

So, there are plenty of things for these legislators to do right now, in their districts, as they stand.

And in some cases, if they know they're gonna lose a town or potentially lose an entire county, it's time for you to, to double down and do your very, very best to represent them yet, one final time.

- Well, Iowa House district 89.

(Jim laughing) Maybe a number you know pretty well.

Norlin Mommsen and a guy named Bobby Kaufmann are both lumped into that same district.

So, what are you saying to your son these days?

- I'm telling, I'm saying one thing, both Norlin and Bobby are terrific legislators.

And I'm guessing that Norlin and Bobby are having some conversations right now.

And I'm guessing that both of them think that Jeff Kaufman needs to keep his nose out of it.

- Iowa Republican Party Chairman, Jeff Kaufman.

In a moment, Western Illinois university pulling out the welcome mat for its students.

But first, Lora Adams is ready to head into the first week of October with great ideas for you, as you get ready to go out and about.

(upbeat music) - [Lora] This is Out & About for October 1st through seventh.

This October, take a step back in time and tour the extraordinary Havencrest Castle in Savanna, Illinois.

Or enjoy wonderful barbecue from local and national vendors at Bar-B-QC hosted by the Jaycee's.

Shop State Street Market in Geneseo, a free family friendly event.

And don't forget Oktoberfest going on at Snowstar in Andalusia, while the German American heritage center at the Hauberg Estate presents their Oktoberfest QC on the second.

And Port Byron presents their Oktoberfest with music from five to 10.

Bring your dog to the free Fall Doggie Fest and Howl'o'ween Treat Hunt at Hasselroth Park.

On stage, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra open their 107th season at the Adler Theatre, as does the 25th anniversary of Rent.

Playcrafters Barn Theatre presents, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.

October 1st through the ninth.

And there's still time to catch Little Shop of Horrors at the Spotlight Theatre, closing on the third.

Clue on stage, based on the movie, based on the board game, opens October 7th at Richmond Hills.

and multi-Tony the award-winning musical, Company opens at the Black Box Theatre on the seventh.

Plus, there are thrills and scares galore each weekend in October.

Terror at Skellington Manor - Haunted House in Rock Island.

The QCCA Expo Center presents QC Shock House - Haunted House.

And there's the Factory of Fear Haunted House in Moline.

For more information visit wqpt.org.

- Thank you, Lora.

Lectric Larry is a musician in the Quad Cities who says fifties and sixties rock is his greatest influence.

He came to the stage of Moline's, Black Box Theatre before the pandemic swept through the area and he performed one of his original works for us.

Here's Lectric Larry with, I'm Still Here Hurting.

(sad guitar music) ♪ I'm sitting here ♪ ♪ Hurting over you ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here ♪ ♪ Hurting over you ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here ♪ ♪ Don't know what to do ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here looking at the wall ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here looking at the wall ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here wondering what went wrong ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here wishing you were home ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here wishing you were home ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here wondering what went wrong ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here crying over you ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here crying over you ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here, don't know what to do ♪ ♪ But darling, I know I love you ♪ ♪ But darling, I know I love you ♪ ♪ But darling, can't go on without you ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here hurting over you ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here looking at the wall ♪ ♪ I'm sitting here wishing you were home ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm sitting here crying over you ♪ ♪ But darling, I know I love you ♪ ♪ But darling, can't go on without you ♪ ♪ But darling, I know I love you ♪ ♪ But darling, I know I love you ♪ - Lectric Larry with I'm Still Here Hurting performed on the stage of the black box theater in Moline.

Western Illinois university has seen declining enrollments for almost a decade and a half.

The school is not alone, but now Western has created a new position, Vice-President for Enrollment Management, underscoring the importance of attracting and retaining students.

We talked with the new vice-president Dr. Amber Schultz.

So, the latest numbers show that Western Illinois University's enrollment was pretty steady, stagnant at best.

Why is that good?

- Well, right now the competition is absolutely fierce among higher education.

And the demographics are not in our favor for growth.

So, you know, for a lot of schools, flat is the new growth model and we're striving to be flat.

And I would say that after about 14 years in a row of declining enrollment being, you know, not another year of decline, but being flat is a sign that we are turning the corner and that obviously, hopefully next year we can have some growth.

And so, I really do feel like we're doing a lot of the right things and that we have some momentum, so, just a stop in the decline, being flat for a year or so and then hopefully being on the rise in the future is what I'm hoping for.

- Well, let's be honest.

This is a new position for you.

So I mean, there's a lot of pressure on you, but it also underlines how important your role is in increasing enrollment and diversity at Western.

- Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm super excited to be here as the inaugural Vice President for Enrollment Management.

This is a position and a unit on campus that has been sorely needed.

I see us as an amazing bridge on the campus between academic affairs, student services, finances, and the like, to just really rally this campus's passion for Western Illinois and the community's passion for Western Illinois.

To harness all that and use it to increase our enrollment.

- Let's be honest.

I mean, one of the things you have to do right now is number crunch.

And I do want to talk more about the enrollment numbers, but if you're gonna try to attract new students, that means you have to have a big pool of high school graduates in Illinois.

I know other areas as well, but Illinois, in order to increase your freshmen roles.

And what are you seeing?

is that there?

Is there a decline in high school graduates?

Is your pool getting smaller, I guess?

For looking for freshman?

- Yes.

Yeah.

The demographics are not in our favor, but they're not in our favor anywhere in the country, right?

I mean, there are pockets in the country, specifically in the Southwest and other areas that are seeing growth in the number of high school students graduating from high school, but here in the upper Midwest, where I've spent the vast majority of my career, we have been seeing declining numbers of high school graduating students since 2008.

I mean, it's been a steady decline.

It's not going to get better in the near future.

And so, that means that the competition has just become that much more fierce and it's our, it's really important for us to go out and recover, lost market share.

Because yes, the demographics have declined.

But as those demographics declined, the competition just became very, very fierce.

And so we have to concentrate on, not just on the numbers of high school students, but what's the percentage of that high school graduating class that we are actually getting at Western Illinois University?

We have lost market share to some competition and we need to go be aggressive and recover that lost market share.

- And not just Western.

I mean, there's been an Illinois flight.

There's been students that have just gone to other states.

How do you combat that?

- I think that it's really articulating very well, our value proposition.

Why is it so valuable to stay here in Illinois and to come to Western Illinois University.

I've served a number of other campuses and the quality of the academic experience here at Western Illinois University is top-notch and an absolute reason to stay in Illinois and get your degree at Western Illinois University because the academic experience is incredible.

So, we have to make sure that people realize what an amazing academic experience and return on investment they get by staying here in Illinois and attending Western.

- What's the impact of the pandemic?

Is that like one of those moments in time that really changes what people perceive as the college experience?

- I do think there's this change in perception of what the college experience.

I think some students have figured out that they can get what they need in their higher education experience by continuing to stay remote and hybrid.

And I think that we've proven to ourselves as education providers, that we can try to provide a quality experience remote and hybrid.

So, I don't think it's gonna completely, (clears throat) Sorry, excuse me, go away.

But I also see this massive population of students who are so excited to be back in person and to really, you know, gain the experiences of being in a classroom and having real, live, in-person discussions with their classmates and going to games and being involved in clubs and organizations.

And there's definitely still a very much a thirst for the traditional in-person environment.

So, I think we're gonna continue to offer both of those in very safe ways.

But I'm super excited to see life back on campus after a couple of years of lack of in-person life.

- Yeah, absolutely.

But the other thing that Western's actually been very active in, and so is your competition, as you point out, is the non-traditional student.

- Absolutely.

- You sent me in, Western's been very welcoming with programs aimed at veterans and you have seen a growth in your international student population as well.

- Yes.

Yeah.

So yeah, in terms of the non-traditional student market, I think, you know, the new normal of higher education does speak to the fact that there are competitive forces throughout, not just against, like other public Illinois universities and colleges, but with the economy, you know?

There's a need for people to go into the workforce.

And for many of those people, that traditional pathway that we all remember, go direct from high school to college, then into the work field, people do that in different ways.

And I want them to do it in whatever way it works for them.

And I wanna make sure that Western Illinois University is here to serve them when it's right for them to come get their degrees.

So, being accessible to an adult learner, a full-time worker, whether they be direct from high school or out in the workforce for 20 years, we need to be accessible to those students.

So, I'm super excited to welcome our non-traditional learners to Western Illinois University and yes, international student population.

International students is a great market for us to break into.

I think we have a lot of opportunity and potential to increase our enrollment by becoming an attractive institution for international students.

The international student marketplace is just as competitive as our domestic, right?

There are so many great options throughout the globe.

So then, we have to really think about how do we stand out in the marketplace, not just compared to other Illinois publics, but compared to the schools in Malaysia and Australia and England.

But I do think that we have a great opportunity to stand out in that marketplace and to attract more international students to Western.

- When you crunch the numbers for this year, how did the Quad Cities Campus come out?

I mean, is it still losing enrollment at the Riverside Campus in Moline and you know, you're dealing with two campuses.

Are you gonna do anything specific for the Quad Cities Campus?

- Absolutely.

We are seeing a little bit of a continued decline at the Quad Cities Campus.

And I think that is when we compare ourselves nationally and really look at our peer institutions, I don't think we should be too surprised by a continued small decline in the Quad Cities.

Our Quad Cities campus definitely is serves a large number of adult students, and adult students tend to have children.

And in this unknown time of the K-12 environment, are we gonna be online?

Are we gonna be in person?

And having family financial situations impacted by the pandemic, I believe that we will continue to recover enrollment as we move out of the pandemic at the Quad Cities Campus, but there's some great opportunities.

The Quad Cities Campus, we're still really kind of determining the best audience for us, but obviously, and meeting the needs of the Quad Cities area and meeting the workforce needs.

So, we are in the process of billing out some capacity to partner.

And so, I think that we're searching for some positions that are going to be focused on developing corporate partnership.

And I think that's a great way to build enrollment on the Quad Cities Campus.

- Dr. Amber Schultz, Western Illinois University Vice President for Enrollment Management.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us, as we talk about the issues on "The Cities".

- Wheelan-Pressly, funeral home and crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are, and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.