HE.03.16
September 29, 2003
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Senate
Final;Information
HE.03.16 Report on the Illinois Board of Higher Education Meeting, August 12, 2003.
The BHE met from 9:07 to 11:50 a.m. at Chicago State University. Chair James Kaplan opened the meeting with several announcements: Jerry Blakemore was reappointed by the Governor to a 6-year term on the Board; new advisory committee representatives are Terry Ludwig for the Council of Community College Presidents and Allan Karnes, SIU-C, for the Faculty Advisory Council. Pat Sexton, Secretary to the Board is retiring and Diane Gilleland leaving the staff to take a teaching position in Arkansas. Gary Alexander will replace her on an interim basis.
The IBHE is working with the governor on reducing administrative costs. A committee from public universities chaired by Director LaVista is being formed to study best practices including possible bulk purchases of energy. Revised tables had been prepared on under-represented groups. Kaplan was “very disappointed” that only 1.6% of students is being served by disabled student services. With 10% a realistic estimate of disabilities, why are we serving so few? He noted some are reluctant to declare a disability. Public institutions are to report on their efforts. He will meet with a group of admissions officers to discuss his concerns.
President Elnora Daniel of CSU welcomed the group. The college moved to its 161-acre campus in 1972. Its 325 faculty offer 36 undergraduate and 20 graduate degrees to 7.2K students, 79% Black, 10% Latino and 10% Caucasian, 72% female, and 32 in average age. She said the campus is making major strides thanks to increased legislative support. (The campus has received extra appropriations as compared to the average for several years--most notably for FY’04.)
FAC chair Karnes presented the FAC resolution welcoming new IBHE board members and officers pledging to work cooperatively with them in these difficult budget times. Other FAC statements commented on difficulties related to hiring minorities, a unique segment in the hiring pool, and suggested establishing a loan fund to hire minority faculty when a vacant position is not available, the loan repaid when a vacancy does occur. Finally, he urged that maintaining a steady base of state funding for public institutions be given coequal status with the goal of enhancing the monetary award program.
Reports of other advisory groups were more detailed than usual. The student representative commented favorably on the affordability report but said opinions were very mixed about the report on minority faculty. The proprietary school representative noted the “contribution” made in offering 30% of the on-line completion programs. The community college representative termed the diversity report outstanding and commended the affordability report. But he called for continued study of the 75-hour limit on student aid at community colleges--federal guidelines for aid permit 30 hours of remedial work--and urged continued study of impact on students in the lowest three quartiles of the economic ladder since aid is not covering increased higher tuition and fees. This year community colleges will focus on finances, allocation, transition issues, federal and state legislative issues and workforce issues. The private college representative called for strengthening the MAP program and said a review of the health services grant program was overdue.
Board Member Jerry Blakemore reported on the Midwestern Higher Education Commission, one of 4 interstate higher ed compacts. He noted an increased focus on cost savings to maintain quality while public funding diminishes and a move to focus more directly on policy issues.
The diversity report was adopted with minimal comment. Blakemore said upper administrators should be evaluated on progress in this dimension, not just chairs and deans. The negative impact of budget cuts on progress was mentioned. This report mandates assessment of and reports on the campus climate for female, minority, and disabled faculty. In the future, information on underrepresented faculty will be reported every year, not every other year.
The report on affordability was adopted unanimously. Board member Robert English said that with budget cuts of 15-20%, reporting should be cut 50%. (Great irony: this meeting resulted in more frequent reporting in one case and at least 3 new reports. I lost count.) The report was little changed from the June draft except that the need to provide a stable funding base for public higher education was added as “a high priority for the state.” MAP coverage will be provided for up to 135 credit hours but this entails a new tracking system. The report saw the need to extend the processing time for MAP funds through the start of the new semesters, a particular concern of community colleges.
Executive Director LaVista said we need to focus on structure as we develop a structure BHE FY’04 activity: we must underscore that we understand accountability by creating a framework to communicate that to the public. Asked by IBHE member Sam Gove why the addition of a 7th commitment was not on the agenda, LaVista responded that a study of the entirety of The Illinois Commitment will be forthcoming with the possible addition of a 7th commitment one element.
The presentation setting a context for the FY’05 budget was particularly sobering. Although state funding grew from $1.6B in FY’90 to $2.4B in FY’04, the actual growth is only 0.2% after adjusting for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, state funding for the public universities has dropped 14.6% since FY’90. The funding of pensions and student financial aid took many of the dollars added to higher education. General Revenue Funds (GRF) support has declined 9.4% since FY’02. At best, FY’04 will have a slowly improving economy and major spending pressures for pensions, health care, and K-12 education will continue. Student enrollment rose 4.4% in fall 2002 and enrollment increases will continue for several years. For FY’05 compensation is a major issue given the loss of salary competitiveness last year as is enhancing student aid. (A 1% salary increase costs between $14 and $15M.) Other issues include adult education funding, facilities maintenance, new programs and initiatives, enhanced accountability and efficiency and capital budget priorities. English commented that we need a better set of definitions for what constitutes “administration” and “administrators” arguing that janitors are not administrators, cost cutting should be board driven, cutting should be system- wide not just in public universities, not all institutions are equally able to afford the same cut. In saying productivity should be addressed, he criticized faculty workloads in terms of number of classroom contact hours. Sam Gove pointed out that classroom hours is not a proper measure given responsibilities such as research. Chairman Kaplan said definitions are being developed and he believes administrative costs are still too high and can be cut further.
The Board accepted without comment actions to expand governing board of trustees’ oversight of university operating budgets. The fact that state statues vest primary authority for public university stewardship and management with boards of trustees was stressed. While recognizing existing accountability processes such as audits, regulations and reporting requirements, the report calls for codification of rules and an enhanced role of trustees in budget review, approval, and oversight. Budgets should encompass all revenue sources and details on objects of expenditure, fund sources, and campus allocations and be made available to the BHE, Governor, and public with trustees apprised of budget activity through the year. A report on a review of current practices is due to the BHE by January 2004 on the implementation of recommendations.
A draft report on policies and priorities for health related programs recommended reducing capacity in some professions and increasing others through the use of grants. English warned about the inability of the Board to control demand—past attempts have ended in failure. UIC Chancellor Manning pointed out errors in the report on adequacy of the supply of dentists. Kaplan said corrections to the draft should be forwarded before action in October. A new annual report on expenditures, degrees awarded and job-placements of health-related programs was called for.
Miscellaneous items: A 108-page draft report on master plan policies for Illinois higher ed will apparently be acted upon in October. The IBHE has returned the sequestered $211K as the governor demanded and met the target for return of grant funds. A $2M grant for veterinary medical research at the U of I was approved.
Finally, in a printed statement, Sue Kaufman of the UPI (University Professionals of Illinois) called for greater funding for public institutions, better salaries, and directing funding away from private and proprietary institutions to the public institutions.
Ken Andersen,
Senate Representative to the FAC