Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1980 [PAGE 536]

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1980]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

525

C a n we, then, over the difficult years expected in the eighties, make progress toward our ultimate goal? T o explore this question, we are working with our administration to find means to accomplish a number of ends of which I will identify four: 1. Strengthen faculty quality 2. Strengthen student body quality 3. Tailpr programs to today's circumstances 4. Tailor budget allocations to both existing and new offerings. Faculty and student quality hinges on the campus image and ours is both poor and inaccurate. As one means to improve this situation, we are attempting to increase the level of faculty participation in recruitment at high schools. The Campus Planning Committee for years has urged consideration of some dormitory space on campus as another means to improve our image and the quality of students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. We are exploring ways for faculty to make our campus better known through support of the athletic program. Probably the greatest opportunity on the horizon is the possibility for consolidation of the two Chicago campuses, a move of both great promise and hazard. Certainly, such action would assist in attracting better faculty and more talented students. The combined institution would rank among the top seventy research-oriented universities, a position which would improve our standing in the academic world and federal circles. No doubt the University would enjoy a more effective presence in the city, state, and nation. T h e task is to work out a plan to secure these advantages without loss of independence and individuality required by the quite distinct, but not unrelated, operations of the two campuses. T h e senate is prepared to help explore these issues. Central to all four items of concern is the library. Various senate committees continue to support its growth and we view with pleasure the recent agreement with the Crerar Library. We look forward to the evolution of this project and hope that it will eventually include suitable housing for that superb collection. Over the coming years, both faculty and administration need to investigate new directions, especially as related to Program PM, extension and off-campus offerings, and the summer session. Programs in some colleges and some departments have not yet reached their full potential to satisfy either student demand or community needs. Shift in effort and existing inequities necessitate reallocation of funds, a process as difficult as it is necessary. Without judicious faculty involvement, reallocation can tear an institution apart. T h e Budget Committee will be consulting with the vice chancellor for academic affairs to devise practical and effective procedures. T o breathe life into the vision held by Mayor Daley when he spoke of this campus as his crowning achievement — a vision which incidentally included a winning football team — it will take our best and most determined efforts. Yet, it is by securing the future of this campus that the University is given its greatest opportunity and it is in the performance of this task that all of us will be judged.

Special Report on Litigation: Award of Attorneys' Fees to the University

M r . Costello, t h e u n i v e r s i t y counsel, h a d r e p o r t e d e a r l i e r t h e r e c e i p t of a n o p i n i o n of t h e U . S . C o u r t of A p p e a l s for t h e S e v e n t h D i s t r i c t , w h i c h resolved all issues in f a v o r of t h e U n i v e r s i t y in c o n n e c t i o n w i t h its n o n r e n e w a l of Assistant Professor J a m e s N . M c E l e a m e y ' s c o n t r a c t a t t h e e n d of h i s e x t e n d e d p r o b a t i o n a r y p e r i o d ( J a m e s M c E l e a r n e y , v., U n i v e r s i t y of Illinois a t C h i c a g o C i r c l e c a m p u s , J . E . C o r b a l l y , p r e s i d e n t , a n d D . H . Riddle, chancellor.)