Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1982 [PAGE 524]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1982]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

513

3. As in the past, the aim will be to provide for stability and continuity during this period of fiscal uncertainty. Attempts will be made to avoid, where possible, layoffs of personnel. There are, of course, seasonal shifts in employment requirements and mid-year budget adjustments that require layoffs even in normal times. We anticipate some additional layoffs as a result of the budget reductions as well as internal shifts of personnel from one unit to another. Given these realities, however, we will aim toward stability and continuity in employment and services. 4. Accountability for meeting the reduced budget targets will remain at the operating level. As in the past, we weighed the possibility of prohibiting further offers of employment by deans and directors until the dimensions of the present problem were more fully known. This was rejected in preference to retaining responsibility in each of the academic and administrative units to live within the authorized budget limits. Some deans and directors already have imposed severe hiring restrictions; others may need to do so. We do not intend, however, to impose a University-wide restriction at this time. 5. On a temporary basis, the University will allocate the $3.3 million derived from differential tuition charges to help off-set the overall base budget reduction. If the differential tuition funds were not applied, cuts in excess of 2.7 percent of the personal service base would be required and be even more disruptive. Nonetheless, the program needs to be met from the differentia] tuition revenues remain as urgent as they were when approved by the Board of Trustees some months ago. Therefore, the application of the differential tuition revenues to the immediate problem is viewed as a temporary measure; these program funds will be replaced by the first additional $3.3 million in state appropriated funds and applied to the most pressing academic program problems. 6. A cap has been placed on the maximum allowable "vacancy credit." "Vacancy credit," as the term implies, is the estimate of the fraction of positions expected to be vacant for some period of time during a given year. The policy will be to hold "vacancy credit," so far as possible, to last year's levels; at the general university level, it must be reduced below last year's levels. In all cases, it must be less than 2.5 percent of the personal service base budget. 7. The University will redouble its efforts to secure additional state support essential to the maintenance of quality and stability of program offerings and services. Summary The accumulated deficiencies resulting from the trends of the last ten years will not be eliminated overnight, but we must work toward a new course now. The citizens of Illinois, I believe, are proud of the University of Illinois; they are proud of its programs; they are proud that Illinois is served by one of the strongest public universities in America. They know the future of one is tied to that of the other. This is the message we must carry to the people. The University of Illinois has the capacity to be the preeminent public university in the United States and the state of Illinois and our society will be the stronger because of it. The University is doing all it can to help itself, but needs help from the people of Illinois if it is to fulfill its responsibilities in a proper manner.

In the course of his report to the trustees, the president also presented a communication from the clerk of the Urbana-Champaign Senate transmitting the result of a mail poll conducted by the senate of academic employees at the Urbana-Champaign campus to obtain an expression of interest in collective bargaining. (A copy of the communication and the results of the poll are filed with the secretary of the board for record.)