U of I Faculty Seek Non-Voting Committee Seats with Board of Trustees

A group representing University of Illinois faculty members say they want access --- if not a vote --- to the Board of Trustees.

The University Senates Conference --- which represents faculty senates on all three U of I campuses, is asking the Board of Trustees to grant a non-voting ex officio seat for a faculty representative on several of the board's standing committees. That representative would also present a brief report at each board of trustees meeting.

Urbana campus education professor Nick Burbules presented the request at Wednesday's Board of Trustees meeting. Burbules says the university's financial crisis may require major changes, but that those changes can't occur without faculty support.

"If we are to be partners in the sacrifices ahead, we need to be partners in the conversation about those sacrifices", said Burbules, reading a statement prepared by the University Senates Conference. "If major and potentially disruptive institutional changes are on the horizon, the faculty who are being asked to continue their unflagging efforts on behalf of this institution, must believe that these changes are about continued academic excellence, and not just cost-cutting."

Burbules says the Faculty Senates Conference would like a faculty member to one day have a vote on the Board of Trustees. But he says that's not part of their current proposal --- instead the non-voting faculty member would keep trustees abreast of what's happening on the U of I campuses, and discuss ideas with them. A bill that would provide faculty with a voting seat on the board passed an Illinois House committee Wednesday. It would also make nearly half the voting seats on the board elected, not appointed.

U of I Board Chairman Kennedy Christopher Kennedy says he's inclined to support the faculty proposal, in the interests of shared governnance. But he wants to poll other trustees before making a formal response.

But Trustee Carlos Tortolero indicated his support right away for inclusion above the committee level. "I, for one, would like to see the day when, instead of being in the back room, you guys are at the table with us", Tortolero told Burbules. "I think that's what partnership is."

NOTE: This story was revised on 3/12/10, to note that the Faculty Senates Conference request applies to board activity at the committee level, and to note Illinois House legislation affecting the Board of Trustees.