Received by the Senate Clerk and incorporated by reference in these Minutes.

Comments to Urbana-Champaign Senate
In support of Resolution to Eliminate Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day
April 03, 2006
Levis Faculty Center

Good Afternoon!
I am the Interim Registrar and Director of Facility Management and Scheduling, Carol Malmgren. 
One of my primary roles is to support the academic mission of this institution through the scheduling and management of the general classroom pool; including staffing and support of Foellinger Auditorium and Lincoln Hall Theatre.  

I am here to voice support for the resolution sponsored by Professor Mark  Roszkowski.  (You should know that I don’t begrudge any student interest in having a Spring party, celebrating with friends, or letting loose).  However, the activities associated with Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day have gone beyond a celebratory party.  A group of students moved the party into campus classrooms, interfering with those who have a desire to learn and those who wish to provide instruction and share knowledge.  Administrators became safety patrollers, TA’s acted as bouncers, and this lecture hall was locked to keep students out!  These are all antithetical to our teaching mission.

Especially upsetting is the disregard drunkards showed to one of our campus’ historical icons—Foellinger Auditorium.  When I became a student here in 1978 this facility was in deplorable condition; the south wall nearly ready to buckle under the weight of the crumbling done.  Ms. Foellinger’s gift restored this facility to the architect’s original ideal and since that time, this facility has been treasured and maintained in the best condition possible, by a generation dedicated staff and student workers.

So, I was very dismayed to learn of the vandalism that occurred on March 3.  Here I paraphrase the following report from staff: The Men's restroom was fairly well trashed with beer cans and pop bottles in the toilets and two of the three soap containers broken off the wall . . .and one of the legs holding the counter up, was broken off, and the floor was very, very sticky. 

But the real damage was to the women's restroom by the dressing rooms where the counter and the sink was broken away from the wall and broke the pipe and water was everywhere and flooding into the hallway. It definitely got worse as the day went on. We locked the front door about 3:15.  In Lincoln Hall Theatre, students tampered with fire extinguishers, and there was spray paint damage to overheads and other equipment.

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In these times of increasing tuition, tough state budgets, cuts to administrative support, and pressures on delivering excellent instruction, the thousands of dollars of University revenues and staff time wasted on Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day is unacceptable.  

Campus administrators and students alike need eliminate all factors that have a negative impact on our academic mission, even if it is for only 
one student, or one facility, or one day of instruction.   

This is the standard of excellence found at the University of Illinois. 

Thank you for your attention.