ABSTRACT
Going to Illinois from Michigan State marked a sea change in institutional environment. The official name of the institution was the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, never the other way around. The Illinois library was magnificent and Illinois students were a notable cut above Michigan State's. Illinois and its departments were more research oriented, more competitive nationally, and more sophisticated in their approach to scholarship. Despite Illinois' isolation on the prairie, it brought notable cultural events to the campus. Illinois was competitive nationally in attracting good young scholars, but couldn't hold them once they became nationally visible. In the 1970s, with soaring inflation and fading support from the Illinois legislature, the university administration was obliged to look for places to cut spending. These were difficult times financially for the university because of the high rate of inflation and reduced appropriation from the legislature.
