Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 568]

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1978]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

555

to point out our unmet needs and will do so vigorously. Our unmet salary needs •will remain an issue for FY 1980 just as will an intelligent approach to responsibility for tuition decisions. But, if I must face reality today with regard to tuition, so must I face reality with regard to the speed with which we can overcome several years of inadequate salary support. I have been asked what is different today from the conditions which existed on January 10, 1978, when I urged you to continue your strong support of our request for a 10 percent salary increase. What seem to me to be differences are that the chances for a tuition increase are now nil, SURS contributions have moved from "net" to "gross" at a cost of about two and one-half percentage points on our salary and wages base, and support for programmatic needs has been reduced to no better than a bare minimum in order to preserve salary increases and SURS contributions. I do not back away from my support of our budget request, nor do I want you to do so, and I shall continue to enunciate our needs. As we seek to support the IBHE budget recommendations and as we recognize new levels of support from the leadership of Illinois, we must tread the thin line between seeking too much and being content with too little. FY 1979 can represent real progress on the road back to needed levels of financial support, and I urge all of those concerned with the quality of health of the University of Illinois to come together in support of that progress as a base for continuing progress in the years to follow. Mr. Lenz again raised the matter of developing an institutional policy on tuition; in particular, apart from the time of regular budget preparation. He suggested that this would be a useful topic for the General Policy Committee to pursue. It was agreed that the president would bring forward as soon as possible such information as might be available; in particular, a survey of the subject from other states and of a corollary topic, viz., legislation authorizing universities to make final determinations with regard to setting of tuition rates. Report on Selected Topics of Current Interest 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. MEETING, STUDENT WELFARE AND ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE Mr. Lenz announced that, during the lunch hour, the committee would meet informally to examine present administrative procedures at the Urbana campus with regard to housing for undergraduate students. The committee would not review the "sixty-hour rule," but would attempt to learn more about the regulations and the amount of administrative flexibility provided within them. He anticipated that the chancellor at Urbana would be asked to report to the committee at a subsequent meeting. REGULAR AGENDA The board considered the following reports and recommendations from the president of the University.