UC.06.04

March 27, 2006

University of Illinois

University Senates Conference

Friday, January 27, 2006

9am

Room 206 Student Center West

University of Illinois at Chicago

Report to Senate Executive Committee, UIUC

Thursday, January 26, 2006, 6pm, President B. Joseph White, Vice President Chester S. Gardner, Chancellor Sylvia Manning, and USC members had dinner at 2850 University Hall with Senator Rickey Hendon, Senator Edward Maloney, and Judy Erwin, Executive Director of the IBHE. Other area legislators were unavailable.

Friday, January 27, 2006, 9am, Meeting.

Members present included: Bodenhorn, Finnerty, Ford, Grossman, B. Jones, W. Jones, Kagan, E. Kaufman (chair), L. Kaufman, Langley (secretary), Mallory, Scheff, Tolliver, Weller, Wheeler.

Guests: Devon Bruce (BOT member), Chet Gardner, B. Joseph White.

The meeting began with a brief report on the dinner and everyone agreed that it was a rousing success. The discussions with both Hendon and Maloney had been frank and useful, and members thought it would be helpful to invite Judy Erwin to a lunch at some point in the near future. Dinner is also planned in tandem with the April 25, 2006, USC meeting in Springfield. The three area legislators will be invited.

The previous meeting’s minutes were approved.

The conference talked fairly extensive about the “Naming of University Facilities and Programs” issue, and some members expressed concern regarding potential conflicts of interest for corporations who fund programs, buildings and research. The conference would like to have specific guidelines in place.

The “Permissible Use Policy” was discussed, including Schacht’s document which had been submitted to the conference. This document outlined suggested changes to existing University policies on fraudulent activities and permissible use of University property. The overall goal is to have consistent policies and policy documents. The document was transmitted to VP Gardner.

The model for the Global Campus was the focus of the meeting with VP Gardner. He indicated a Steering Team has been appointed, as well as a series of subcommittees, Academic Affairs, Student Services, Administrative Structures, and Business Structures, who are working on aspects of the plan. E. Kaufman, USC chair, is a member of the Steering Team.

A number of site visits, e.g., University of Maryland, are underway at institutions which have prior experience with virtual long distance education programs. VP Gardner provided a number of program examples at other campuses. Conference members repeated their concerns regarding the faculty’s role, and had questions about the business model and the potential structure of the virtual campus.

President White had agreed to obtain data on part-time academic professionals at each campus. Those with at least 50% but less than 100% include a total of 782, 445 UIC, 272 UIUC, 23 UIS, and 42 University Administration. He provided a fairly detailed report on the recent BOT meeting. Eppley was re-elected chair. The remodeling and renovation needs were emphasized, and a number of plans, such as the remodeling of Memorial Stadium were reviewed by the BOT.

He indicated that the board has concerns about the University’s debt capacity and bonding rating. Of note, the BOT’s Governance Committee is being reinstituted; David Dorris will serve as chair, and Marjorie Sodemann as vice-chair. President White also discussed a few administrative changes, and he mentioned these in the context of stating that the university should be academically decentralized, and financially centralized. He stated that the Executive Summary of the Strategic Plan would be presented at the next BOT meeting.

During luncheon, a number of issues were raised by conference members with Trustee Bruce, including naming rights, increased tuition, faculty representation on the board (no vote), and “Chief Illiniwek.” In terms of the BOT, he indicated that a faculty appointment would require a change in the state statutes by the Illinois legislature.

Following lunch, the conference reconvened, and discussed the resolution on faculty representation to the BOT. A few changes were made to the resolution. It will be circulated via email so that additional revisions and editing can be done. A few other items were addressed. The “Nonreappointment of Academic Professional Staff” had been passed by all three senates, and thereby was transmitted to the President.

The transmitted reconciled language for optional multi-year contracts and related dismissal procedures has gone to the senates; the UIC senate approved language, and this version has been sent to UIS and UIUC for approval. The meeting concluded at 2:34pm following campus updates.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Mallory for Robert Fossum, USC UIUC liaison, with thanks to Connie Sailor, March 6, 2006.