PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 20, No. 14, Feb. 15, 2001

Senate action moves Research Board

Craig Chamberlain , News Bureau Staff Writer
(217) 333-2894; cdchambe@illinois.edu

The Urbana-Champaign Senate on Monday narrowly approved a change in the university statutes that effectively would move the Campus Research Board from the Graduate College to the province of the vice chancellor for research.

The change was put forward in the aftermath of a reorganization that took effect last May that made the dean of the Graduate College and vice chancellor for research into two distinct positions. Both positions previously had been held by the same person.

The proposal, on its second reading at Monday’s meeting, called for the board’s eight to 12 members to be appointed by the chancellor in consultation with the "vice chancellor responsible for research and with the leadership of that campus’s senate." It also called for the vice chancellor to chair the board.

Under the existing statute, the board is appointed by the chancellor after consultation with the dean and the executive committee of the Graduate College, and the dean chairs the board.

The change was described as an obvious necessity by Robert Fossum, chair of the Committee on University Statutes and Senate Procedures, which presented the proposal. Geneva Belford, professor of computer science, said the move made sense and described the proposal as housekeeping.

But other senators took issue with the proposal and urged voting against it, among them Stephen Kaufman, a professor of cell and structural biology, and Walter Klemperer, a professor of chemistry.

Kaufman noted that the previous arrangement had served the campus well and he questioned the logic behind the change.

After 20 to 30 minutes of debate, the senate approved the proposal by a show of hands, 50-46.