Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 386]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1975]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

375

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS M r . Howard, commenting on the problem of over-enrollment a t the Urbana campus, asked that a report on the problems of over-enrollment and associated difficulties be analyzed and provided the Trustees in due course. Chancellor Peltason will arrange for such a report. Interim Report, Board of Higher Education Committee on Governance M r . H o w a r d reviewed in some detail t h e interim report of the committee indicated (copies of which the Trustees h a d received), noting a number of recommendations of some concern to the Board of Trustees. H e expressed his view that the Board should take a position on certain aspects of the report and presented the following statement for transmittal to the Board of Higher Education. The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois has examined carefully the "Interim Report" of the Committee on Governance, presented to the Board of Higher Education for its consideration, and has concluded that four of the recommendations contained in the report are not in the best interests of the people of Illinois or of the University of Illinois. Recommendation 4 of the "Interim Report" says: All members of the Board of Higher Education should represent the public at large. Representatives of the systems should continue to serve on the Board with full rights of membership except the right to vote. Representation of the public at large should be increased from ten to eleven members. The recommendation is not based upon any evidence or claim that institutional representatives to the Board of Higher Education are ineffective or that the present statutory system is not working. In fact, the five members of the Board of Higher Education who also serve upon governing boards are as much "public members" as those who are appointed. The institutional representatives have direct experience with the problems and needs of operating institutions of higher education. The Board of Trustees believes that all members of the Board of Higher Education now provided by statute, including members who also serve upon governing boards, should continue to exercise full rights of membership, including voting rights. Recommendation 9 of the "Interim Report" says: No more than a simple majority on system boards should be from one political party. This recommendation is not applicable to the University of Illinois as an elected board, but it does indicate one of the problems perceived in an appointed board. Recommendation 10 of the "Interim Report" says: The Board of Higher Education should establish a search committee or other organized means for identifying good candidates for appointments to system boards. Such candidates should be recommended to the Governor. The Board of Trustees does not believe that it would be appropriate to the function of the Board of Higher Education to recommend candidates for appointment by the Governor to the governing board. For the Board of Higher Education to exercise such a political function would violate its statutory role as a coordinating board, not a governing board.