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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1974 Version B
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342 BOARD OF TRUSTEES [September 12 high quality programs. The meeting of this commitment requires financial support greater than we have been receiving during the past years of inflation and of the increasing costs of excellence. It is not an alarmist statement, but rather is the truth, that the libraries, the laboratory equipment, the facilities, and, yes, the quality of the appearance of our campuses are slipping— slowly, but surely. We must stop and reverse that trend and to do so requires financial support greater than we have been receiving. Therefore, later this fall, I plan to present to you recommendations concerning income sources for 1974-75 based upon a detailed analysis of our financial and program arrears and upon the action of the General Assembly at its October 1973 session. This analysis will include a study of tuition policy for the future as well as a study of tuition as it relates to the immediate need to restore our budget base. It is within this framework of "unfinished business" that we bring to you for your consideration the budgets for 1973-74 and the budget requests for 1974-7-5. STATEMENT, POLICY COMMITTEE, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS. URBANA CHAPTER President Hughes reported that a request for a representative of the AAUP Chapter at Urbana to be heard had been approved. Professor Harry H. Hilton, chairman of the legislative committee and member of the policy committee of the chapter, presented the following comments: The University of Illinois (Urbana) AAUP Chapter requests a public commitment from this Board to seek a legislative override of the governor's reduction veto of the University of Illinois' contribution to the State Universities' Retirement System (SURS). The governor's reduced amount of $11.9 million is $12 million less than the legal requirement from the University of Illinois for FY1974 and will add to the $401,422,000 unfunded liability existing as of August 1972. Combined with similar reductions for other employing units in SURS, the unfunded accrued liability will increase by $54 million in FY1974, unless these reductions are overridden. Should the current underfunding policy be continued, the eventual burden upon the taxpayers to meet pension obligations will far surpass the burden of adequately funding, SURS now. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois has a legal obligation to seek on behalf of their academic, nonacademic, and professional employees full funding of current retirement service costs each year. Furthermore, the Board has a moral obligation to their employees to ensure the security of employee pensions and employee contributions to SURS. We urge the Trustees of the University of Illinois to meet their obligations irrespective of possible actions of other employing units. Our forthcoming legal proceedings on the governor's item reductions, which the AAUP Chapters at Urbana and Circle campuses and the AAUP Illinois State Conference will institute in the near future, do not diminish our commitment to seek your support in obtaining an override solution in the legislature. The President and members of the Board provided general assurances that such efforts as were feasible would be undertaken to stabilize the retirement system. A N N U A L OPERATING BUDGET FOR 1973-74 (2) The budget for operations for the fiscal year (FY) beginning July 1, 1973, is submitted herewith, including recommendations for: (a) academic and administrative appointments beginning September 1, 1973, except for academic year appointments at Urbana-Champaign which begin August 21, 1973; and (b) appointments to the nonacademic personnel staff on a continuous basis. All salary increases are effective with the pay period beginning nearest to September 1, 1973. Authorization to pay salaries and wages for the period July 1 to September 1 was granted by the Board of Trustees on June 20, 1973. _ For purposes of determining academic service, the academic year at the Chicago Circle and Medical Center campuses will be in conformity with past
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