Stephen Kaufman, professor of cell and structural biology, presented at the April 26 Urbana-Champaign Senate meeting a letter he said was sent to North Central Association officials and signed by him, Frederick Hoxie, professor of history and director of Native American House, and Carol Spindel, a lecturer in the department of English, raising objections that individual faculty members had not been scheduled to meet with NCA representatives who were on campus last month.
“We’ve had this issue with us for 15 years and when this opportunity that is now before us with the NCA is being bypassed, as an educational institution that thrives on information and resolution of problems, I would have hoped that this could have been arranged otherwise,” Kaufman said, in presenting the letter to Priscilla Yu, vice chair of the senate executive committee.
Yu explained that the senate executive committee did meet with NCA representatives as the elected representatives of the faculty. Ken Andersen, senate observer and representative to the faculty advisory council of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, reported that the Senate Executive Committee had met with NCA officials for 45 minutes.
The senate approved the nominations of James Anderson, professor of educational policy studies, and Vernon Burton, professor of history, as possible chairs of the search committee to advise the president on the selection of a chancellor. President James J. Stukel will appoint one of them as chair and the other as a committee member. The senate also voted on nominees for the committee. Elected to the committee were May Berenbaum, entomology; Norm Denzin, sociology and communications; Mary Mallory, head of the government documents library and associate provost; Rolando Romero, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese; and Jane Loeb, educational psychology. Also elected were Paula Kaufman, university librarian; Pam Hohn, executive assistant dean, College of Fine and Applied Arts; and Franci Miller, staff secretary in the Office of the Chancellor.
Parking policies and an increase in permit rates evoked much debate and prompted two resolutions at the meeting (see parking story for details).
Other business
- Senators passed a resolution urging the administration to oppose any reduction in health care, dental or vision benefits as well as any increase in premiums or co-payments for faculty members.
- The senate approved an amended policy on information security that would allow users to share usernames and passwords in certain circumstances. Once the modified policy has been approved by all three campuses’ senates, it will go to university administration for action.
- Senators approved academic calendars for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 and a policy for implementing a review system for campus units that function in the manner of academic departments.
- Barclay Jones, chair of the Budget Committee and professor of mechanical engineering, reported on the state budget, saying that the committee’s recommendations to the provost would include opposition to any benefit reductions. The capitol budget recommended by the governor was “better than anticipated,” Jones said, and any decrease in state appropriations would be significantly offset by the FY05 tuition increases. Jones asked senators for letters describing how the budget reductions have affected their instruction.
- Yu presented Cantor with a resolution of appreciation for her service to the Urbana-Champaign campus.
