Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1986 [PAGE 122]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1984]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

111

I believe the subcommittee has rendered a service to higher education and to the people of Illinois by focusing on several of the achievements and opportunities as well as the obstacles and frustrations which characterize our efforts to serve all the people of this diverse state. The results of your efforts have not only heightened awareness, but I believe may have ushered in a period of potential progress. Developing all the human talent of America is crucial to the economic, social, and political stability of our country. Since its inception, the University of Illinois has been dedicated to the expansion of educational opportunity for individuals not adequately served and doing so at the very highest levels of quality possible. As president of the University of Illinois, it is important for me to underline that this commitment, a commitment to reach out and extend educational opportunity and to offer programs at the highest standards of quality, is and will remain a part of our fundamental value system. The road toward access and quality has never been smooth. The testimony delivered before this committee has revealed many areas — including our urban health program in Chicago and the Principal Scholars Program at Urbana-Champaign — that have been successful to the point of standing as national models of what can be done. In many other areas, as testimony has clearly revealed, our progress has been disappointing and reveals the need to determine how our programs can be designed and carried out more effectively. As I have reviewed the testimony and pondered the recommendations that have come before the committee, there are seven areas I would single out for special comment. First, as far as our University is concerned, I have asked that the vice president for academic affairs review all programs designed to recruit and assist minority students at the University of Illinois. The outcomes of this review should enable Illinois to gain a clearer picture of our total effort: identify areas in which we are making progress; areas where more support is warranted; areas of weakness where we are not achieving proper results; and, ultimately, identify gaps, opportunities for coordination and cooperation, and targets for improvement of effectiveness. Second, as mentioned by Dr. Langenberg and Dr. Everhart, we intend to solicit greater involvement of currently enrolled minority students and successful alumni to help us in the identification and recruitment of minority students who can profit from the broad range of programs offered by the University of Illinois. We should build on the achievements of the past, and I believe our students and alumni can help us reach out in more effective ways. Third, I support the recommendations offered by several who have testified before the subcommittee that an early review be made of State policy regarding the offering of remedial courses in our universities. This review must assure that as we step up our efforts to recruit minority students, we accompany these efforts with appropriate academic support systems — including, where necessary, courses to remove earlier academic deficiencies. Fourth, as one looks ahead to the needs of society for the balance of this century, one of the most urgent requirements is that of the development of the leadership talents of minority students to equip them to play the roles they must play and that will be required for a healthy society. This is a responsibility that faces all of our universities and is a special obligation of the University of Illinois from where many of our future leaders in the fields of engineering, medicine, architecture, business, law, dentistry, and many others will come. I intend to seek private funds to help us