Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 155]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[January 15

MEETINGS OF BOARD COMMITTEES President Hughes announced there would be a meeting of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds at the conclusion of the regular agenda and before the Executive Session. BUSINESS PRESENTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY President's Reports President Corbally presented a report on selected topics of current interest, copies of which were distributed at the meeting, and a copy was filed with the Secretary of the Board. Report of the Action of the Board of Higher Education Concerning the 1976 Operating and Capital Budget Requests President Corbally reported briefly on the January 7, 1975, meeting of the Board of Higher Education and its actions concerning budget requests for Fiscal Year (FY) 1976. H e also distributed a statement presented by him to the Board of Higher Education concerning the staff recommendations on budgets, the text of which appears below. Concerning the capital request, President Corbally mentioned the status of the Law School Building Addition, indicating that this project was not, as had been reported, disapproved but, rather, deferred to a subsequent meeting of the Board of Higher Education, to be considered after a n evaluation of the expansion of legal education in Illinois had been completed — in particular, a study of a proposed legal education center in Springfield. With regard to projects to improve the Memorial Stadium a n d to expand Willard Airport, he indicated that further effort and further study would be undertaken, that these represented items of unfinished business at the moment. Statement by John E. Corbally, President, University of Illinois, to the Illinois Board of Higher Education Meeting of January 7, 1975, Chicago, Illinois RE: Recommendations for operating and capital budgets, FY 1976 I have today a written statement so that I will say only what I want to say and so that what I say can be referred to as we move through the appropriations and approvals processes leading to our budgets for FY 1976. Because we occasionally find ourselves in what might appear to be adversary positions, I want first to express the appreciation of my colleagues at the University of Illinois and my personal appreciation for the manner in which Richard Wagner and his colleagues have worked with us in developing the recommendations before you today. While we differ with them in some aspects, we have had ample opportunities to negotiate, discuss, and clarify our requests and their responses to those requests. In our view, the State of Illinois has three primary, first-priority commitments to higher education — equitable salary treatment for our people, the maintenance of our ability to purchase goods and services, including utilities, during an inflationary period, and the continued support of an ongoing expansion of education in the health professions, an expansion which was begun under the urging of this Board and which has passed the stage at which second thoughts are feasible.