Eastern to host IBHE-SAC conference
Student Senate members will discuss tuition costs with board
Bob Bajek / Student Government Editor
Issue date: 1/23/09 Section: News
Student Government will host the Illinois Board of Higher Education Student Advisory Committee this Saturday and Sunday on campus for the first time since 2005.
The committee's main function is to lobby its concerns to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, said Eric Wilber, student executive vice president. During the two-day conference, the committee will discuss various topics to lobby for in the future.
Student Body President Levi Bulgar said 33 delegates from colleges and universities throughout Illinois will attend this weekend's conference.
Bulgar and Wilber are Eastern's delegates.
"We are ready to host," Bulgar said.
Other Student Senate members are also welcome to attend, Bulgar said.
The delegates will stay at Mattoon's Holiday Inn Express. Bulgar printed directions from the hotel to Eastern for the representatives and finalized catering on Wednesday.
The student committee will talk about issues during the conference that coincide with IBHE's agenda.
One issue to be discussed during the conference is the cost for students to pay tuition, fees and textbooks more easily.
"We talk a lot on affordability and how, as students, we could put pressure on our institutions to make sure that everyone could have access," Wilber said. "And we try to push for expanding college budgets from the state, but that hasn't happened for a few years."
With the state possibly asking universities to give back 2.5 percent of their endowments to help soften the state budget shortfall this year, Wilber said budgetary lobbying would be harder.
Bulgar said another concern for the committee is institutional expenditures.
For example, students at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale are worried about helping fund a new football stadium, the basketball arena's renovation and the relocation of the tennis courts through increased tuition and fees as a major source of funding, Bulgar said.
According to the SIUC Board of Trustee minutes from Sept. 11, the projected cost for this construction will be $83 million.
Saluki students are questioning why Southern's need for academic structural renovations is being ignored, Bulgar said.
"We are going to talk about how universities in Illinois prioritize their internal funding," he said. "We need to go back to academics as the number one priority for renovating older academic buildings or putting money into programs."
As of Jan. 1, higher education institutions are required to have new guidelines with regard to campus safety.
This piece of legislation, Bulgar said, came from the governor's task force on Campus Safety and Mental Health, which Bulgar was a member of in 2008.
"These standards are having a plan for hazardous situations with messaging systems or some form of active communication from administration to faculty and students for any type of emergency," Bulgar said. "Whether it be weather related or an active shooter."
Bulgar said a conference for the Campus Safety Enhancement Act is at 9 a.m. today at Malcolm X College in Chicago. Some delegates from the IBHE Student Advisory Committee will attend.
Bulgar will also talk about campus safety during the conference.
The cost of the event is $1,000, which is $300 to $400 less than the initial assessment, Bulgar said. Expenses included $850 for catering, $50 to $60 for using the Doudna Fine Arts Center and $50 to $100 for entertainment.
The university covered all costs for the conference as announced at the Student Senate meeting on Jan. 14.
In years past, two Eastern delegates would have cost $500 to travel to the conference.
"The benefit of hosting this is the greater opportunity to meet other student government members from across the state and showcase Eastern," Wilber said.
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7942 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.
The committee's main function is to lobby its concerns to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, said Eric Wilber, student executive vice president. During the two-day conference, the committee will discuss various topics to lobby for in the future.
Student Body President Levi Bulgar said 33 delegates from colleges and universities throughout Illinois will attend this weekend's conference.
Bulgar and Wilber are Eastern's delegates.
"We are ready to host," Bulgar said.
Other Student Senate members are also welcome to attend, Bulgar said.
The delegates will stay at Mattoon's Holiday Inn Express. Bulgar printed directions from the hotel to Eastern for the representatives and finalized catering on Wednesday.
The student committee will talk about issues during the conference that coincide with IBHE's agenda.
One issue to be discussed during the conference is the cost for students to pay tuition, fees and textbooks more easily.
"We talk a lot on affordability and how, as students, we could put pressure on our institutions to make sure that everyone could have access," Wilber said. "And we try to push for expanding college budgets from the state, but that hasn't happened for a few years."
With the state possibly asking universities to give back 2.5 percent of their endowments to help soften the state budget shortfall this year, Wilber said budgetary lobbying would be harder.
Bulgar said another concern for the committee is institutional expenditures.
For example, students at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale are worried about helping fund a new football stadium, the basketball arena's renovation and the relocation of the tennis courts through increased tuition and fees as a major source of funding, Bulgar said.
According to the SIUC Board of Trustee minutes from Sept. 11, the projected cost for this construction will be $83 million.
Saluki students are questioning why Southern's need for academic structural renovations is being ignored, Bulgar said.
"We are going to talk about how universities in Illinois prioritize their internal funding," he said. "We need to go back to academics as the number one priority for renovating older academic buildings or putting money into programs."
As of Jan. 1, higher education institutions are required to have new guidelines with regard to campus safety.
This piece of legislation, Bulgar said, came from the governor's task force on Campus Safety and Mental Health, which Bulgar was a member of in 2008.
"These standards are having a plan for hazardous situations with messaging systems or some form of active communication from administration to faculty and students for any type of emergency," Bulgar said. "Whether it be weather related or an active shooter."
Bulgar said a conference for the Campus Safety Enhancement Act is at 9 a.m. today at Malcolm X College in Chicago. Some delegates from the IBHE Student Advisory Committee will attend.
Bulgar will also talk about campus safety during the conference.
The cost of the event is $1,000, which is $300 to $400 less than the initial assessment, Bulgar said. Expenses included $850 for catering, $50 to $60 for using the Doudna Fine Arts Center and $50 to $100 for entertainment.
The university covered all costs for the conference as announced at the Student Senate meeting on Jan. 14.
In years past, two Eastern delegates would have cost $500 to travel to the conference.
"The benefit of hosting this is the greater opportunity to meet other student government members from across the state and showcase Eastern," Wilber said.
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7942 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.
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