University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Senate

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UC.02.01
October 29, 2001

University Senates Conference
September 20, 2001

University Senates Conference (USC) met in Urbana at the President's house with President Stukel and Vice President Gardner in the morning and UIUC Chancellor Nancy Cantor in the afternoon. These sessions were followed by a brief business meeting.

The meeting with President Stukel and Vice President Gardner included discussion of the following topics:

- Issues relating to K-12 education and higher education, particularly in terms of teacher training and retention, and funding.
- Funding for higher education within Illinois, and specific economic impacts on the University of increased fuel prices, medical liability for UIC, and covering costs of renovations and capital projects not funded by the state
- Importance of addressing ST-30, Sanctions less than Dismissal, and coming to a resolution
- Benefits of interactions with USC and university management teams
- State initiatives that may offer opportunities for the University, such as the proposed Lincoln Museum and affiliated institute

The meeting with UIUC Chancellor Cantor covered the following topics:

- Need to balance existing strengths with efforts to strengthen the humanities and social sciences
- Relationship between campuses and the benefits of having some redundancy in programs
- Marketing the University to increase visibility and attract out-of-state students
- Need to make the budget process more transparent and provide increased communication about the process
- Increase UIUC presence in Chicago along the lines of the I-Space gallery, the College of Commerce and Business Administration's increasing connections there, and public policy connections

The business meeting was relatively brief and included the following:

- Approval of the July 25, 2001 minutes
- Discussion of ST-30, Sanctions less than Dismissal, and the response from each campus to the proposed wording
- Discussion of the Fitness to Work proposal, OT-89, resulting in a decision to get feedback from President Stukel, and as appropriate, refer to the USC Statutes committee
- Review of the status of OT-181, proposed revisions to the policy on academic integrity, clarifying that it is currently under review by the UIUC Vice Chancellor for Research, and will be forwarded to UIC and UIS
- Affirmation of University faculty interest in being represented on the Board of Trustees (BOT); this item will be kept on the agenda with continued discussion with BOT members
- Discussion of future guests to invite to address University issues of concern
- Reports from USC representatives to the University Management Teams (Academic Affairs; Business Administration and Human Resources; Economic Development and Corporate Relations; and Governmental Relations). Of note is that the UI Integrate project is on schedule for the Human Resources component (December 2001) and that the student component is targeted for fall 2002. Also, UIC is reviewing its disaster plan.
- New members were confirmed for the USC Statutes Committee: Frank Kopecky (UIS), Pat Langley (UIS), Robert Fossum (UIUC), Bob Rich (UIUC), Ann Weller (UIC), and Bill Jones (UIC)
- Nominations to the University's budget study committee are being sought from UIS and UIUC; UIC already submitted nominations
- Recalculation of the USC membership apportionment from each Senate will be reviewed by the USC Executive Committee
- Subcommittee meetings of the group to review the procedures for searches and reappointment of university officers are to be scheduled

Dates and locations of future meetings were discussed, as were routine items of business.

Nancy P. O'Brien
USC Representative to UIUC Senate Council