Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1986 [PAGE 529]

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518

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

LUNCHEON, UNIVERSITY SENATES CONFERENCE

The luncheon honored members of the University Senates Conference, the faculty body which serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Trustees and to the president of the University. Following the luncheon, the current chairman of the conference, Dr. Elmer B. Hadley, professor of biological sciences at the Chicago campus, presented the following remarks.

The conference wishes to express its appreciation to the board both for the confidence that the board displayed in giving the conference total responsibility for the February retreat on "University Responses to Public Policy Issues" and for this opportunity to informally report on our reflections concerning that retreat. T h e conference is aware that isolated complaints have been raised from various perspectives concerning the retreat, and we have tried to analyze those complaints carefully. O n balance, we believe that the University community has gained greatly in many different dimensions from the retreat experience. These gains include a general raising of the consciousness level of the University community concerning these important, highly complex issues. As a community, we are now more aware of the reasons and presuppositions underlying the various positions that have been taken on those issues as well as the difficulties encountered in discussing and dealing with complex issues when positions are strongly held and based on moral commitments. After careful consideration, the conference believes that the retreat was a success and that that success flowed in large measure from four key decisions: the board's decision to turn in a formal manner to the University community for discussion and guidance in informing its deliberations; the conference's decision to use the normal governance channels of the University in the selection of participants; the conference's decision to cast the discussions in broader terms than just the divestiture question and to use a problem-solving rather than an adversarial format; and the conference's decision to assemble an appropriate mix of Board of Trustee members, administrators, faculty, and students for the structured discussions. Candidly, the retreat represented a tremendous investment of time on the part of the conference and others, including Earl Porter's people, and this commitment came on top of already heavy schedules. Yet, in spite of the heavy investment required, we believe that the University community was well served by the retreat, the investment was well worth the effort, and the retreat format will serve as a useful model if needed in the future.

President Ikenberry spoke briefly, commenting on the regular meetings, held by die president and staff members with die Senates Conference and die variety and significance of problems on die agenda. He expressed especial appreciation to the conference for die planning and effort devoted to die recent retreat, arranged by die conference at die request of die Board of Trustees.