April 25, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
SENATE
Committee on Campus
Operations
Final - Information
CO.05.02
2004-2005 Annual Report
As of the
drafting of this report, the Senate Committee on Campus Operations (SCCO) had
met seven times during the 2004-2005 academic year; an additional meeting is
scheduled for May. Some of the issues before the SCCO were carried over from
previous years. These issues include campus safety and crime prevention, the
South Farms Project, oversight of campus classroom and laboratory remodeling and
renovations, classroom reassignment, campus parking, and the Research Park.
Recent issues include Campus Security, Recreation Facilities, Banner System,
pedestrian traffic, deferred maintenance, Campus Master Plan, Campus Networking
Upgrade, the duration of construction projects on Campus, and campus quality of
life, and its use for attracting the best possible students, faculty and staff.
The
Committee will send a Prefiled Resolution to the April 25 Senate meeting
(CO.05.01, Resolution Regarding the Restoration of the Lincoln Hall Building).
Invited
guests included Stephen Rugg, Vice President for Administration, University
Comptroller; Lyle Wachtel, Associate Vice President for Capital Programs,
Facilities Planning Programs; Peter Siegel, CIO, CITES; Stan Yagi, Assistant CIO
for Information Technologies, CITES; Beth Scheid, Division Director,
Communications Technologies, CITES; Mark Netter, Director, Facility Management &
Scheduling; Terry Ruprecht, Campus Academic Facilities Officer, Facility
Management & Scheduling; Carol Malmgren, Assistant Director for the Timetable,
Facility Management & Scheduling; Clark Wise, Director of Capital Projects,
Facilities & Services; Oliver J. Clark, Chief of Police and Executive Director
of Public Safety; Mark Briggs, Campus Risk Manager; Gary Biehl, Facilities and
Services; Eugene Barton, Associate Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs; and Jesse
“Tony” Clements, Director, Division of Campus Recreation.
Liaison Members to
Several Campus Committees
Public
Safety Advisory Committee
Douglas Cruitt
Facilities and Services Advisory Committee
James Anderson and Michael Andrejasich
Facilities Planning Committee
James Anderson and Michael Andrejasich
Parking/Transportation Committee
Tom Overbye and Tom Teper
Campus
Transportation Committee
George francis, John Lammers, and Tom Overbye
Committee
on a Sustainable Campus Environment
H. Rex Gaskins
The following is a
list of issues discussed during 2004-2005:
Campus
Master Plan Update – Stephen Rugg, Vice President for Administration, University
Comptroller; and Lyle Wachtel, Associate Vice President for Capital Programs,
Facilities Planning and Programs
Rugg gave an overview
of the University’s Master Plan (distributed handout “Campus Master Planning
Process”) and described it as a document that presents the physical
configuration of the Campus. The BOT has approved this legal document; State
Law dictates the use of Eminent Domain in the officially approved Master Plan.
Twin objectives of meeting the needs of the Colleges of ACES and VMED have
changed the south campus. There is an ad hoc plan to explore the Division of
Intercollegiate Athletics, areas in and around Orchard Downs, student housing
needs and expansion of the Research Park. A Master Plan update was needed to
incorporate these and a variety of transportation issues; the process will
culminate with a series of recommendations. Rugg said that the underlying
academic program needs of a college such as the College of ACES drive the
outcome, not necessarily the architecture vision. Rugg pointed out that once
Windsor Road was widened to four lanes it became apparent that the Campus needed
to make some specific changes for ACES. Wachtel reported that in the last
twenty years there have been major additions to the north campus including the
Public Safety Building, Beckman Institute, Grainger Engineering Library, WILL,
etc. Andrejasich said he would like to see the Master Plan aired in public,
preferably held at Temple Buell Hall in front of architecture students; he
thought it was a good way to find stakeholders. Reis asked what mechanism they
have to get faculty perspective and how the SCCO might help. Rugg said they
obtain information from attending meetings like this one; also rely on the
Provost’s Office to work close with faculty on these issues.
“Campus
Networking Upgrade: An Operational Perspective” – Peter Siegel, CIO, CITES;
Stan Yagi, Assistant CIO for Information Technologies, CITES; and Beth Scheid,
Division Director, Communications Technologies, CITES (Campus Information
Technologies and Educational Services)
Siegel distributed
handouts and gave a brief update on the Campus Networking Process saying there
have been frequent discussions for many years on upgrading the network
structure. Town meetings were held whereby 650 faculty and staff members
attended. Three years ago the Information Technology Advisory Board made
recommendations which both Siegel and the Provost endorsed. There are
approximately 300 buildings on campus; 156 will receive a full network upgrade
per deferred maintenance, 108 will be upgraded as required. Although it may not
be noticeable, the growth of the network continues at ten to fifteen percent per
year; during this time reliability begins to drop. There are many reasons for
modernization – security, spam, etc. Universities are an open environment; any
attacks to our system are in the hands of international law enforcement.
Siegel
reported that with the growth of both Web and wireless use, there is an
immediate need to make classroom networks highly reliable. There are presently
55,000 wire connections on campus and it is predicted that there will be 80,000
connections by the year 2012. The scope of Deferred Maintenance for the Upgrade
to move toward international standards is $20 million for 5-years.
“Classroom Scheduling” – Mark Netter, Director; Terry Ruprecht, Campus Academic
Facilities Officer; and Carol Malmgren, Assistant Director for the Timetable –
Facility Management & Scheduling
Ruprecht
distributed copies of “Classroom Management,” and remarked that the Campus has
seen an incredible amount of changes in the past few years. He referred to the
page showing the results of a space survey prepared by Paulien & Associates;
representing several universities, the survey shows that UIUC is below the
mean. Ruprecht explained that our campus has as many as 15,000 events during
the school year; contributing to that total are the 1,200 registered student
organizations on campus.
Netter remarked that while classrooms are allocated to
departments, they are not automatically assigned to them; it is preferable to
assign some classes, like rhetoric, to locations around campus. Ruprecht
pointed out that the trends during 1998-2003 have shown a decline in classrooms
for less than 50. Non-traditional room scheduling has become hard to
accommodate; Purdue schedules classes from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays
and Saturdays.
Teper
suggested a motion to normalize class scheduling. After a short discussion, the
Committee agreed to determine the process for changing the Final Exam to two
hours instead of three hours.
Clark
Wise, Director of Capital Projects, Facilities & Services – Presentation on the
proposed Hotel/Restaurant/Conference Center
Clark Wise
distributed copies of a map illustrating proposed changes for the south campus
and walked members through the handout. The Campus is taking a conservative
approach to planning this facility, as statistics show that when facilities of
this kind are overbuilt, they have a tendency to fail. As part of the Campus
Master Plan, this includes three components being contemplated in the South
Research Park area.
HOTEL – 120 room hotel that could eventually be enlarged to 175 rooms; 4-story structure
with 30-units per floor
RESTAURANT – located mid-point between the hotel and conference center;
occupancy 210 to 240
CONFERENCE CENTER – 25,000 square foot facility; plan to start out with a head
count of 500 with plans to eventually go to 1,000
“High
Speed Emergency Notification System” – Oliver J. Clark, Chief of Police and
Executive Director of Public Safety; and Mark Briggs, Campus Risk Manager
Chief
Clark distributed copies of a Crime Map for September 1, 2004
through December 31, 2004
and the Crime Map Data Comparison (9/1/02 through 12/31/02 vs. 9/1/2003
through 12/31/03 vs. 9/1/2004 through 12/31/04). He walked the members through
the handouts and reported that aggravated assaults have risen drastically,
mostly in the northwest quadrant. His department tries to educate the public on
safety issues and taking the appropriate measures to protect themselves. An
important concern has been how to notify the campus community if a major
event/crises were to occur on campus. About 1995, they started the “telephone
tree” as a means to notify the campus of a tornado, but this process does have
its imperfections. Briggs distributed handouts of a Dialogic-Communicator
System that would pre-program a list of contacts for predicted emergencies that
would continue through each contact source (home phone, cell phone, pager,
etc.). As a result of 9/11, there has become a hot market for high speed
emergency notification systems at many universities.
“Pedestrian Safety” – Gary Biehl, Facilities and Services
Biehl
gave an update on what is being done to promote pedestrian safety although he
wondered if the median signs across campus may give pedestrians a false sense of
security. He reported that Ray Benekohal from Engineering would be conducting a
survey across campus to study the scope of pedestrian safety; there will be a
collection of observations, discussions of focus groups, pedestrian volume
counts at key campus crossings, summary of pedestrian accidents at crosswalks,
etc.
Biehl noted that the CATS I Project had produced great success on Green
Street by reducing traffic from four lanes to three. The Campus is considering
changes to Lincoln Street by using that same technique between Nevada and
Pennsylvania with traffic signals on those corners.
Reports by Jack
Dempsey, Executive Director of Facilities and Services
Dempsey
kept the committee informed on many construction projects on campus and their
duration as follows:
·
Construction on the North Campus Parking Garage has been completed including the
addition of privately owned business. The first floor has been rented to USGS
(United States Geological Survey) at market rate; they employ fifty graduate
students each year so it is advantageous for them to be closer to campus.
Devonshire Realty has been hired to handle leasing space; parameters have been
set for a restaurant that sells liquor, a coffee shop and a sandwich shop.
·
UIUC is about to embark on the Central Campus Parking Garage to be located
behind the Newman Rectory on Fifth street across from Illini Tower; air-rights
will be sold for the construction of apartments to be built above.
·
Gregory Place on the corner of Oregon and Gregory Streets is nearing completion;
the complex contains student housing and restaurants. The University is in the
process of negotiating Phase II whereby parking will be operated by another
corporation and we would purchase leased spots.
·
Freshman classes have grown; thus, the campus is short about six classrooms with
a capacity to hold 75-100 students. Huff Hall could meet this need, but then
those athletic facilities would have to be relocated; a Committee was formed on
September 1 to consider the construction of a multi-sport facility to recapture
that space.
·
Proposed renovation of Lincoln Hall is driven by problematic needs. There is
not enough space on the quad; they are hoping to recapture space on the 4th floor and in the auditorium. The price tag is expected to be well over $50
million.
·
Requests for bids are being made for building graduate student housing. Orchard
Downs was built in the 1950’s and was considered family-student housing. There
are 780 units; 469 of them are occupied by families, loosely described; 280 of
these units are in such bad shape that they should be demolished today. Since
the 50’s there have been some distinct changes; in the present market, there are
many developers able to meet the student requirements and the Campus’ needs as
to size and cost.
·
A parking garage structure will be developed later this summer at Sixth and
Green Streets, the old Wendy’s location. Dempsey pointed out that the landscape
in campus town is changing and becoming more vertical.
·
There are negotiations in progress for major renovations to Memorial Stadium
that would start after the 2006 football season at a cost of at least $50
million.
Senate Committee on Campus Operations
Henrique Reis, Chair
James Anderson
Michael J.
Andrejasich
Douglas Cruitt
John G.
Dempsey, ex officio*
George Francis
H. Rex Gaskins
John Lammers
Tom Overbye
Kathe Munz
Shinham, ex officio*
Tom Teper
Glen Whitmer
*Denotes non-voting status