Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 473]

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460

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[November

18

MINUTES APPROVED T h e secretary presented for approval the press proofs of the minutes of die Board of Trustees meeting of May 18, 1977, copies of which had previously been sent to the board. O n motion of M r . Forsyth, these minutes were approved as printed on pages 269 to 293 inclusive. MEETINGS OF BOARD COMMITTEES Mr. Howard announced additional committee meetings scheduled in the course of the day: the Student Welfare and Activities Committee at 1:00 p.m., and a meeting of the board as a Committee of the Whole at 2:00 p.m. REQUEST TO APPEAR BEFORE THE BOARD: COALITION OF CONCERNED STUDENTS AND FACULTY Mr. Howard announced that he had received a request that a spokesman from a campus group, the Coalition of Concerned Students and Faculty, be allowed to speak briefly to the board on the subject of a report: "A Study of Special Support Programs at the Chicago Circle Campus." (The report had been sent to the trustees some weeks before and had been released publicly in the current week. At a meeting of the Committee on Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity, held just prior to the board meeting, the report had been presented and discussed at some length.) T h e spokesman for the coalition, a student, Mr. Carlos Quintanilla, addressed the general question of educational "exclusion," making specific reference to the University's "selection index," used in undergraduate admissions, a subject presently under study at the Chicago Circle campus. He expressed his belief that the selection index would result in die exclusion of minority students, including some whites. He further protested the public release of the report referred to above, indicating that such a "negative report" would be harmful to the University in seeking funds for more support services for minority students. At die committee meeting earlier, the trustees, die president of the University, and the chancellor at Chicago Circle sought to reassure those present that the report contained many positive elements supportive of the University's equal opportunity programs and that the study results neither lessened nor inhibited die University's determination to continue to provide for equal opportunity and supportive services for such programs. Comments in opposition to die report had been presented by Thomas M . Jenkins, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, who spoke, apparendy, for some of die professional staff of the equal opportunity programs at Chicago Circle and odiers.