Student leaders bring concerns to Board of Trustees

By Craig Chamberlain

Student leaders from the Urbana-Champaign campus brought a priority list of
concerns to the UI Board of Trustees at its meeting April 8 in Urbana.

Many of those concerns got little public support from trustees, however,
who focused instead on student apathy about student government, questioned
the need for certain programs, and asked how such programs could be paid
for.

Among the students' priorities: better communication among students,
trustees and administrators, especially on tuition and fee increases;
affordability; improved recruitment and retention of underrepresented
minority students; increased funding for existing cultural centers;
establishment of an Asian American cultural center; campus safety; more
parking and improved bus service; extended hours in facilities supported by
student fees; and affordable child care.

Julia C. Huff, the student trustee from Urbana, said the priorities were a
direct result of two town-hall meetings she held in late January to ask for
student input.

The list was presented to trustees both as a document and through brief
presentations by more than a half-dozen students, several of whom have been
members of the Student Government Association or the Urbana-Champaign Senate.

Their presentations represented "a pretty accurate account of what's
happening on campus today," Huff said. They are "not just problems to
complain about, but critical concerns that students have," she said.

Board President Kenneth R. Boyle, D-Springfield, noted, however, that
participation in student elections was very low and asked whether the
student government was representative of the student body.

Susan Gravenhorst, R-Lake Forest, questioned whether there was a clear
understanding of the identity and purpose of a cultural center - whether
its purpose was to educate the campus about other cultures or to provide a
"haven" for students of one particular group.

If it is the latter, she said, "I think then that we're missing the point
of our public university and the broadening aspect of the education young
people are receiving here."

For Trustee Thomas R. Lamont, D-Springfield, the issue was money. "The
university is consistently deemed a 'best buy' by major publications who've
studied us across the country, and yet we hear repeatedly the concerns of
our cost," he said.

"We can't be a best buy, and we can't have increased costs, but yet we have
to have increased services and opportunities. It doesn't work that way; it
costs money to provide those kind of things. We have to find that delicate
balance on both sides of the equation, and it is tough."

Chancellor Michael Aiken said he hoped that the presentation would lead to
a "greater dialogue" about some of the issues.

He also talked about money: "It's very important to recognize that over the
last four to five years, this university has really suffered enormous
erosion in its economic circumstances," he said. The Urbana campus has more
than 150 fewer faculty members from seven years ago, he noted, and some of
the students' concerns are "a function of that loss," he said.

With relatively little discussion and only one regular member voting
against, the trustees approved an increase in room and board and fees at
both campuses for the 1994-95 academic year.

The housing increases range from 2 to 5 percent - depending on location,
number of roommates and how many meals are included.

As a result, the typical student in university housing on the Urbana campus
- an undergraduate in a double room who takes 14 meals a week - will pay 5
percent more, or about $4,200 for the academic year. The typical student in
a double room on the Chicago campus will pay 2 percent more for room and
board, or about $5,000.

Student fees were increased by 1.2 percent, or $4, at Urbana and by
2.5 percent, or $10, at Chicago.

Fees, which support a variety of facilities and services, will be $348 per
semester at Urbana, plus $126 for commercial health insurance. Fees at the
Chicago campus will be $412 per semester, plus $145 for health insurance
through the campus HMO.

Tuition increases averaging 5.5 percent were approved by the trustees last
September. Those increases, added in with the increases for housing and
fees, mean the average student at Urbana faces a 5.88 percent increase in
costs next year. The average student at Chicago will be paying 4.38
percent more.

The increase for lower-division students will be higher since their tuition
will rise by about 11 percent - part of a two-year plan to close the
tuition gap between lower- and upper-division students.

Trustees had little to say about the increases, and Ada N. Lopez,
D-Chicago, was the only regular member voting against them. Both student
trustees - Patrick C. Riley, from Chicago, and Huff - raised a few
questions about the increases and voted against them. Their votes are
advisory.

Craig S. Bazzani, UI vice president for business and finance, said that the
housing increases were necessary to cover inflation and to pay for wage
increases for housing employees. UI President Stanley O. Ikenberry noted,
as he has in previous meetings, that the university's intention is to
maintain regular, moderate and predictable increases in tuition and fees
in order to avoid dramatic jumps every few years.

Also approved - and with the same trustees voting against - was a proposal
to increase tuition for MBA programs on both campuses by $1,500 next year.

This increase will be on top of the general tuition increase approved in
September and will raise MBA tuition at Urbana from $4,126 this year to
$5,800 next year. On the Chicago campus, the tuition will be $5,690.

The increase in tuition is part of a restructuring of the MBA program on
both campuses, which was explained to trustees in a presentation at the
January meeting. The new funds will be used to restructure and upgrade the
curriculum, add new courses and support new student assistance programs
designed to attract a more diverse student body.

Under the plan, additional increases in tuition are likely in each of
the next two years.

In other business, the trustees:

  * Approved the elimination of the bachelor of social work degree
    program on the Urbana campus. The proposal came from the School of
    Social Work faculty and was approved by the Urbana-Champaign Senate.
    Elimination of the degree program will have little impact upon access
    to undergraduate social work education in Illinois since the Urbana
    program is one of the smallest in the state, with only 51 students
    currently enrolled.
  * Approved a revision in the policy and rules manual for UI civil
    service employees that expands the use of sick leave. The new wording,
    consistent with a change in the university's General Rules that was
    approved by the trustees last November, expands the use of sick leave
    to include the care of a parent or member of the household. It also
    states that sick leave may be used following the birth or adoption
    of a child.
  * Heard a presentation on a plan to purchase a 10-year supply of
    natural gas from a single supplier, with the benefit to be savings of
    an estimated $7.3 million on university energy costs over that period.
  * Approved transfer of the Urbana campus department of atmospheric
    sciences from the Graduate College to the College of Liberal Arts
    and Sciences.