Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1972 [PAGE 144]

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134

BOARD O F T R U S T E E S

[December

10

INTRODUCTION OF N E W TRUSTEE A N D TRUSTEES ELECT

President Hughes announced that Mr. Roger B. Pogue of Decatur was attending his first meeting since his election and introduced Mr. Pogue. In addition, three trustees-elect, Mr. W. D. Forsyth, Jr., Mr. George W. Howard III, and Mr. Earl Langdon Neal (who will take office in March of 1971) were present and were introduced.

MEETING RECESSED O n m o t i o n of M r . C l e m e n t , t h e B o a r d r e c e s s e d f o r a m e e t i n g of t h e General Policy Committee, the Board to reconvene immediately thereafter. B U S I N E S S P R E S E N T E D BY T H E P R E S I D E N T O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y T h e Board considered the following reports and recommendations from t h e P r e s i d e n t of the U n i v e r s i t y . PRESIDENT'S REPORT P r e s i d e n t H e n r y p r e s e n t e d a r e p o r t o n s e l e c t e d t o p i c s of c u r r e n t i n t e r est, c o p i e s of w h i c h w e r e d i s t r i b u t e d a t t h e m e e t i n g , a n d a c o p y w a s filed w i t h t h e S e c r e t a r y o f t h e B o a r d . REPORT OF THE GENERAL POLICY COMMITTEE ON S T U D E N T MEMBERS OF T H E BOARD OF TRUSTEES (1) Mr. Swain, for the Committee on General Policy, presented the following report: At its July 7, 1970, meeting, the Board of Higher Education referred to the governing boards and institutions a recommendation of its Ad Hoc Student Advisory Committee t h a t : "the Board recommend to the General Assembly that the Illinois Revised Statutes be amended to provide that student body presidents of Illinois public colleges, universities, and junior colleges or their designated representative serve on the governing boards of their college or university." It requested that the governing boards and institutions carefully examine the recommendation and respond to the Board. In order to develop a response to this recommendation, the Board of Trustees referred the matter to its Committee on General Policy. The Committee recommends the following response. Although the laws of the State of Illinois do not prevent a student from running for or serving on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, we do not think it wise or advantageous to have individuals serve on the Board in a student capacity or because of that status (or, indeed, faculty members, administrators, or staff members because of their status). The staff of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, in rejecting the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendation that students serve on that Board, stated that "reorganization without further study and consideration could jeopardize the concept of lay supervision and control." The Trustees believe that the fundamental justification of the lay board and its role in protecting both the institutional and the public interest is a sound one. T h e rationale for this tradition in American higher education rests essentially upon the premise that no university can operate in isolation; rather, that the institution can best be supported and held accountable through the stewardship of laymen, sympathetic and supportive of the University's professional activity but sympathetic and accountable to the public, with whose support the professional activity goes forward. In this context, the faculty, administration, students, and all employees of the University constitute the "professional interest" involved in the activities of the University. Student membership on such a lay board (like that of faculty, administrators, or other employees) then, could involve conflicts of interest, arising from dual accountability, possibly conflicts between internal and external interests. T h e proposal also gives rise to another concern which, though of less direct effect, would have a definite bearing on Board efficiency. The rationale for student