Board of trustees approves increased budgets, building plans

By Craig Chamberlain

Two annual budgets, an update on the presidential search process, and
approval of major building plans were the main orders of business at the
Oct. 20 meeting of the UI Board of Trustees, held in Urbana.

The trustees approved an operating budget of about $1.8 billion for the
current year, 1994-95, an increase of 3.9 percent over 1993-94.

State appropriations in the budget total $779 million, with $597 million
coming from general tax revenue - including the income-tax surcharge or
Education Assistance Fund - and about $165 million from student tuition.
Tuition is collected by the state's public universities, deposited in the
state treasury and then appropriated back to the universities by the
Illinois General Assembly.

Included in the state appropriation was $7.9 million shifted from the
Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities to the
UI's Chicago campus for research and education programs in mental health.

Excluding that shift of funds, state support grew by 3.4 percent from last
year, helping to produce an average salary increase of 3.5 percent for all
university employee groups.

Despite that increase in state support, the share of the overall budget
supported by state tax funds dropped for the fifth consecutive year, to
33.4 percent, an all-time low. Ten years ago, direct state tax support
covered nearly half of the UI's operating budget.

The remainder of the state appropriation in the budget is from the state
agricultural premium fund, fire-prevention fund and real-estate fund - all
special-purpose funds directed to specific research and service programs.

The balance of the $1.8 billion budget is a combination of revenues from
state and federal contracts and grants; hospital and other medical services
income; housing, student unions, bookstores, parking and other auxiliary
enterprises; and gifts from corporations, alumni and friends.

The trustees also approved an operating budget request for 1995-96, though
they deferred passage of the tuition component of that request until the
November meeting.

The budget request calls for an increase in state appropriations of $49.7
million, or 6.7 percent, above this year's base budget. The major
priorities for the new money are salary increases for faculty and staff
members of about 4 percent, which would cost $22 million, and academic
programs, which would get $14 million.

"We expect to be among the very best in all that we do," said UI President
Stanley O. Ikenberry in a news release, "but if this vision is to remain a
reality, improved state support and a firm university resolve to use the
resources available to us in the most creative and powerful way will be
essential."

In noting the priority set for salary increases, Ikenberry said average
faculty salaries are about $2,800 below the university's long-standing
target of third in the Big Ten. One result is that both campuses have lost
a number of faculty members in recent years to competitive offers from
other universities.

"Some progress was achieved in the current year," he said, "but the
university must achieve several successive years of improved compensation
if we are to remain competitive with peer institutions. At the moment, we
remain at a competitive disadvantage."

In keeping with a policy set last year to improve the timeliness and
predictability of tuition decisions, the board item on the budget request
included a proposal to increase general tuition in 1995-96 by 3.5 percent.
The decision on that portion of the board item also was deferred until
November.

Kenneth R. Boyle, D-Chatham, did not attend the meeting, due to illness,
and his absence was one reason given for delaying the decision. Boyle, a
guest at the Illini Union on the night before the meeting, was admitted to
Carle Foundation Hospital on the morning of the meeting, complaining of
chest discomfort. He was a patient at Carle through the weekend and was
released the following Tuesday afternoon, with plans to recuperate further
at home.

Though the board did not discuss the tuition issue, two students from UIC's
Student Government Association spoke in opposition to the measure during
the board's public comment time. Vivek Ramaswamy and Rene Aguirre both said
the tuition increase would be an unnecessary burden on students struggling
to pay for their education, and might keep some from completing their
degrees.

In its capital appropriation request for 1995-96, the university, with
board approval, is asking for $94.4 million for projects on both campuses.
The priorities on the Urbana-Champaign campus, in order:

  * Repair and renovation funds for 12 smaller-scale projects, $5 million.
  * Flood-control improvements, $6 million.
  * The fourth phase of remodeling work on the English Building, $4.9
million.
  * Funds to match private gifts in hand for construction of a new
agriculture
library and information center, $7.8 million.
  * Funds to purchase from the State Universities Retirement System their
previous office building, at 50 Gerty Drive in Champaign, for use as office
space for the University Office of Administrative Information Systems and
Services (AISS), $1.5 million. AISS moved into the building last summer.
  * Construction of a central campus chiller plant to provide cooling for a
number of buildings in the vicinity of the Quad, $5.9 million.
  * Freer Hall remodeling, $6 million.
  * Mechanical Engineering Lab remodeling, $5.7 million.

In its afternoon session, the board was introduced to members of the new
universitywide consultative search committee appointed last month to work
with the board in the search for a successor to retiring UI President
Ikenberry.

The board also heard its first update from the committee's chair, Janice
Bahr, professor of physiology and of animal sciences at UIUC, and from R.
William Funk, managing vice president for Korn/Ferry International, the
professional search firm that was contracted by the board to aid in the
search.

Bahr reported that the committee had met twice, reviewed and revised the
criteria for the position, talked to university administrators to gain
input, sent out more than 300 letters seeking applications, and had a
notice published in more than a dozen newspapers or newsletters. The
committee so far had received 58 nominations and five applications, she
said.

Bahr and Funk both emphasized the need for confidentiality in the process
of the search. Funk noted that many of the best candidates may not be in
the initial batch of nominations.

Asked about a closing date for nominations, Bahr said she had no set date,
but the schedule called for having a list of six to eight candidates to
present to the board by January.

Judith Ann Calder, D-Glencoe, expressed concern about whether that number
would be large enough. "I want to make sure the number is big enough so
that we know it's sufficiently broad," she said. As a result, Bahr said the
committee might present a list of eight to 10.

The committee will update the board again in November. Ikenberry has
announced that he plans to step down as president next summer.

In other business, the board gave final approval on the design of the new
WILL Communications Building, which will consolidate WILL television and
radio operations scattered at several different sites. The project was
initiated with a $5 million gift, announced a year ago, from UI alumni
Robert C. and Alice Campbell of Los Angeles.

The trustees approved a $750,000 increase in the project budget, raising
the total to $8.35 million, to pay for the construction of a separate
building that will house a teaching studio. The teaching studio, added
after the initial planning, will be connected to the main building by a
walkway. The money needed in addition to the Campbell gift will come from
private gift funds raised through the UI Foundation and from campus
unrestricted gift funds.

Construction of the main building, to be located at the southeast corner of
Goodwin Avenue and Clark Street in Urbana, is scheduled to begin in June
1995 and to be completed by October 1996. The teaching studio will be
constructed south of the main building, on the site of the existing WILL
television facility, after the main building is operational and the
existing building is removed.

The trustees also reviewed design work in process on a new Office of
Admissions and Records building, to be constructed southeast of the Levis
Faculty Center. The three-story building will consolidate under one roof
the Office of Admissions and Records, currently located in three buildings.

As with the WILL building, the board approved an increase in the project
budget - in this case to pay for utility extensions that will accommodate
not only the Admissions and Records building, but future facilities to be
located in the same area. The approved increase was $703,117, bringing the
total project budget to $5.86 million.

The project initially will be paid for from campus institutional funds,
with reimbursement anticipated from a future Auxiliary Facilities System
bond sale.