UIUC Senate Wants Bigger Role for Faculty in Choosing U of I Trustees

The faculty-student Senate at the University of Illinois Urbana campus is calling on Governor Pat Quinn to create a task force to advise him on selecting new members of the U of I Board of Trustees. A resolution passed by the Academic Senate Monday also recommends that chairs of the Senates at each campus be among the members of the panel. It also calls for the eventual appointment of faculty to the U of I Board itself.

Business professor and Academic Senator Mark Roszkowski says having faculty representation at the top level of university governance would ensure real shared governance between the university's administration and its faculty. "So I think this vaults the (Academic) Senate into its proper position as the protectors of the academic mission of the university", he added.

Roszkowski says if faculty serve as U of I trustees, they might have to recuse themselves from voting on certain matters to avoid conflicts of interest, as student trustees now do. But he says that even in those cases, a faculty voice during board discussions would be good for the university.

Roszkowski says a delegation from the Academic Senate is to meet with Governor Quinn on the proposal, before he appoints any additional trustees. Quinn has said he plans to appoint more trustees on Friday.

Passage of the resolution on faculty participation in choosing and serving as trustees came at the same meeting where senators agreed to postpone a vote on a resolution recommending that U of I President B. Joseph White and Urbana Chancellor Richard Herman step down.