SC.03.06
December 9, 2002

Report of Meeting of Board of Trustees

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees met on Thursday, 14 November 2002, in the Pine Lounge of the Illini Union on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. This is a report of that meeting.

The Roll Call was held at about 8:00 AM. All members except the Governor were present.

The Board passed a Resolution to Recognize Governor George H. Ryan and Chief of Staff Robert H. Newtson.

Trustee Schmidt asked to remove item 8 (Health and Dental Benefits for Same Sex Domestic Partners) from the agenda. It was put in the form of a motion that passed with 2 dissenting votes. This was done because of the ongoing veto session of the state legislature.

During Public Comment several members of the public urged the Board to approve health benefits for domestic partners. Several former Chief Illiniweks supported "the honor" of the Chief, one from Montana stating the some of his best friends are Native Americans and that "these people" have serious problems with alcoholism and un-employment. Having an honored symbol like the Chief would do wonders for their well being. Finally two members of the public presented, in their allotted 5 minutes, a draft resolution that they requested be signed by the members of the Board. The point of the resolution was to retire the chief and, among other things, to apologize publicly for having sponsored the chief. The second speaker finished her presentation before the allotted time expired and, when asked if she were finished, said she would wait for the remaining minutes while the board signed the resolution. When it became clear the members of the Board would not sign the resolution the Public Commenter began a demonstration that was joined by many in the audience.

After several minutes, the chair of the Board declared that the Board was going into Executive Session and that the room should be cleared. The demonstrators and others left the room.

The Executive Session lasted about one hour. When the Board reconvened in open session there were annual reports from the Alumni Association, the University of Illinois Foundation and the UIUC Senate.

The Board then recessed into several committee meetings. It approved the design for the IMPE addition and remodeling and the site for the Family Resiliency Center. Chancellor Cantor announced a substantial gift for the building and maintenance of the center from the owner of Pampered Chef. VP Rugg reported on the assessment of current facilities conditions announcing that we need approximately $600,000,000 to bring current buildings up to code.

The Board then received an update on UI Integrate from VP Gardner and AVP Mendola. Rugg and Provenzano provided the Board with a presentation on liability insurance. At lunch the Board presented Joan Stukel with a Distinguished Service Medallion.

In the afternoon the regular and roll call agendas was called. The most controversial item was Chairman Shea's proposal to increase salaries 3% across the board for all employees with salaries less than $150,000 (with a cap of $3000). While Shea's motion in September was defeated because it was too late in the process (the budget had already passed), it was said that it was premature to guarantee such a raise. The motion failed with three trustees voting in favor, one abstaining (Lamont, who is a member of IBHE) and the remaining opposed. The Board recessed again to hear a report on the hospitals in Chicago. Upon reconvening, it heard many reports from the various members.

Respectfully submitted,
Robert M. Fossum