Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1994 [PAGE 157]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1995]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

145

that has been lost significantly in the last four or five years. This competitiveness was lost due to declining support from the State, such as three years for which there was no salary increase money in the University's budget. The second is the need to rebuild the faculty strength on both of the campuses. Faculty positions have been lost in recent years due to reallocations within the University and competition from outside the University. He related that there is a need to rebuild the faculty side of the University's staff in order to offer the programs that are considered as very important, such as the Discovery Program in Urbana and the Great Cities initiative in Chicago. Next, the president told the board that another topic he wished to report to them was the proposal to restructure the governance of higher education in Illinois. He recalled for the board that such proposals have appeared in legislative initiatives in the preceding two years. The president described one aspect of the recommended governance restructuring which calls for the dissolution of the Board of Governors and the Board of Regents governance systems and the creation of a number of independent, free-standing boards to give oversight to the institutions that make up these two systems. He then referred to another aspect of this proposal which is to change the University of Illinois Board of Trustees from an elected board to a board appointed by the Governor. The third aspect of this recommendation relates to a proposal to transfer the governance of Sangamon State University to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. He noted that there was much enthusiasm for this change in the Springfield community. He explained that in addition to this, there was a desire among those involved with State government for different kinds of academic program offerings, with more uniform quality. The president said that it is thought that the best way to achieve this is for Sangamon State University to become part of the University of Illinois. He also noted that there was interest on the part of the faculty of both University of Illinois campuses in working to develop something different at Sangamon State University. The president then shared what he described as his vision for Sangamon State if it were to become part of the University of Illinois. He indicated that such a transition would be significant for both parties. Then he went on to explain that he could see Sangamon State as a very small campus in comparison to the other two and quite different. It would, however, be of totally equivalent quality but be a very small, highly and sharply focused campus that would stress certain specific undergraduate program needs and, in particular, focus on graduate programs in the areas of government, public affairs, and the Springfield area, particularly on the functioning of State government. The president emphasized that if this transfer were to occur there