Trustees welcome new campus, bid farewell to Ikenberry

By Craig Chamberlain

The UI Board of Trustees said hello to a new campus and goodbye to
President Stanley O. Ikenberry at its meeting July 12 and 13 in Urbana.

In between, it was apprised of fiscal year 1997 budget concerns, faculty
salaries chief among them; approved and heard plans for new medical
facilities at UIC, and raised questions about the recently disclosed loss
of $1.1 million in a university investment.

Ikenberry's 16 years as university president will come to an end when his
resignation takes effect Aug. 1, so trustees honored him one last time at
the meeting with a certificate of appreciation and words of praise.

Trustee Judith Calder, D-Glencoe, cited Ikenberry's "open-mindedness,
fairness, good foresight, and skills as a facilitator and a person of great
breadth." Susan Gravenhorst, R-Lake Forest, praised his "always great
optimism, upbeat attitude and hopefulness" and said she thought he would be
remembered as "one of the most outstanding presidents this university has
ever had."

Ikenberry, for his part, thanked trustees, faculty, students and other
members of the university community, and said he would like to think the
university was a better institution than when he arrived.

The new campus recognized at the meeting was the UI at Springfield,
formerly Sangamon State University, which officially merged with the UI on
July 1. Naomi Lynn, former president of SSU and now chancellor of UIS,
joined the other two chancellors at the end of the board table, and Neil
Malone joined the board as the new campus' student trustee.

Looking ahead to FY1997
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With the 1996 fiscal year barely under way, the board on July 13 began the
annual process for 1997, spending much of the morning on a review of the
university's preliminary budget request to the state. The board will be
asked to approve the final budget request at its September meeting, then
will go through the same process on tuition and fees in October and
November.

Both requests will be sent to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for
use in its formulation of a recommendation to Gov. Jim Edgar.

Sylvia Manning, UI vice president for academic affairs, told the board that
the university would be seeking an increase of approximately 7 percent in
its operating appropriation for the 1997 fiscal year, set to begin July 1,
1996.

Salary competitiveness carries the greatest urgency in the budget request,
Manning noted - with help from UIUC Provost Larry R. Faulkner (see related
story). The request for salary increases is expected to be in the range of
4 to 5 percent.

The university also plans to seek program funds in the $10 million range,
not including funds expected from tuition or enrollment increases.

Among other concerns in developing the university's request are the need to
rebuild the faculty base, improvements in undergraduate education and
retention, better access to educational high technology, and money to cover
the cost of the UIS transition.

Manning noted that the competition for state resources will become
increasingly intense, but said the university is justified in asking for
additional tax support.

Despite improved budget years in fiscal 1995 and 1996, Illinois higher
education has lost purchasing power since fiscal 1990, she said. It has
lagged behind human services increases, as well as increases for elementary
and secondary education.

Even within the state budget for higher education, the UI has lagged behind
in percentage increases, Manning said. "There is a popular belief out there
that the UI is gobbling up all of the increases" in the state higher
education budget, she said, but that's not true.

Investment trouble
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The UI recently reported that it had lost over $1 million on a short-term
investment as the result of unauthorized trading by a firm linked with The
Common Fund, an organization that oversees endowment funds for 1,400
schools nationwide. The loss was part of $128 million in losses recently
reported by the organization due to trades over the last three years by a
senior trader with First Capital Strategists Inc.

Craig S. Bazzani, UI vice president for business and finance, told trustees
that the university, with about $72 million in the fund, lost about
$950,000. The UI Foundation, with $12.5 million in the fund, lost about
$150,000.

As a result, the university's return on its short-term investments in The
Common Fund for the fiscal year just completed was lowered from an
anticipated 8.6 percent to 7.2 percent. For the university's entire
short-term investment program, the drop was from 8.25 percent to 8 percent.
University endowment funds were not affected.

Bazzani reported that the university was taking appropriate actions, one of
them being to move the $72 million elsewhere while they took a "fresh look"
at The Common Fund. Several trustees, led by Calder, the managing director
of a fixed-income asset management firm, pressed their concerns that the
university be assured by investors that university policy regarding such
investments be followed closely.

Bazzani, along with Ikenberry and other administrators, assured trustees
that the board's policy on investments was being followed by university
staff and that this and other similar investments would get careful review
in the coming months.

In other business:
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  * Bazzani reported that the university has made "significant progress"
    over the last three years toward salary parity between its staff
    employees and State Code employees.

    University efforts in this area grew out of a joint resolution adopted
    by the Illinois General Assembly in June 1992 that called upon state
    universities to "move toward the goal of equity" with state employee
    salaries. This was reinforced with an action by the UI Board of Trustees
    in September 1993 calling for salary parity between the two groups.

  * Ronald Guenther, UIUC athletic director, reported that the Division of
    Intercollegiate Athletics had eliminated its budget deficit, but that it
    could face a deficit again by 1998.

    This is of particular concern, he said, because that projection does not
    include the addition of any new women's sports, an action desired in order
    to address both the gender equity issue and the high level of sports
    interest demonstrated by a survey of female students. The division would
    like to add women's soccer within the next year or two, but the cost is
    estimated at $300,000.

    With significant revenue growth from outside sources unlikely, Aiken said
    administrators were looking at the possibility of introducing a student
    athletic fee to help fund the additional sports. He said he already had
    discussed the possibility informally with students and those discussions
    would continue into the coming year.