More than just a regularly scheduled event, a Board of Trustees meeting Friday ended up being a microcosm of challenges currently facing Illinois State University.
A lead negotiator for ISU's tenured and tenure-track faculty union told trustees members are preparing to strike after a year of contract negotiations.
The chair of the Academic Senate, speaking in her capacity as co-chair of a campus communication committee, urged trustees to work with administrators on labor relations strategies after noting a "pattern of discordant labor relations" spanning multiple ISU presidencies.
Some uncertainty surrounds an end date for repairs to a campus parking garage due to proposed tariffs on steel by the Trump administration.
And a senior Spanish education major urged trustees to outline plans to students in the event that federal immigration enforcement action comes to ISU.
It is these concerns — among others — that ISU's governing board was asked to contend with Friday by faculty and students as it met for regular business. The board approved all items on its agenda that were up for a vote, including:
- A 5% increase each to housing and dining fees for students starting in the next academic year. The increase means undergraduate students will pay an additional $578 per year to attend ISU. Student trustee Ryan Russell told BOT members student residence hall advisors had emailed him directly to show their support for increasing housing budgets.
- An additional $1.3 million to fund repairs to the Bone Student Center parking lot. Repairs will address uneven parking surfaces and large cracks in the asphalt that have led to surface water accumulating below the 445-space lot.
- A $1.3 million project to upgrade stairs at the School Street Parking Garage. While the project has an estimated finish date of this summer, Mike Gebeke, ISU's associate vice president of facilities services, said there could be a delay due to proposed tariffs on steel.
- $1.1 million in funding to repair roof drainage on DeGarmo Hall. The project involves replacing ceilings in the upper floors and light fixtures, and the actual drainage system itself.
- Naming of the Lynch Family Court in the north gym of Horton Field House and the Barnett Family Field within the OSF HealthCare Athletics Training Facility.
ISU president Aondover Tarhule, in discussing a report of the university's grants and contracts awards in the previous fiscal year, told trustees changes to federal grant allotments could cost the university about $250,000.
Two weeks ago, the National Institutes of Health said it would make cuts to grants supporting researching institutions — specifically by limiting the amount it provides for indirect funding to 15%.
"The federal government recognizes that there are great costs associated with managing research: Somebody has to get the money, somebody has to approve the money, somebody has to [ensure] compliance. We need to use utilities," Tarhule said. "The federal government has traditionally negotiated what these cost rates are with universities. For us, I believe it's 48% that we traditionally negotiated."
Cutting that to 15% means a loss of about $238,000 in funding to support research. Tarhule said the university would either have to come up with the additional funding itself, or not do the research and risk losing its status as an R2 or high research activity institution as defined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
"It looks small. It looks like it's a minor step, but it will completely change the identity and character of what Illinois State University is," Tarhule said.
A federal judge has extended a pause on the proposed cuts to NIH as of Friday, according to the Associated Press.
'A militant majority'
Tensions between ISU's faculty and administration also were a prominent theme during Friday's BOT meeting.
Ashley Farmer, the lead negotiator for ISU's tenure and tenure-track union, said during public comment that members have grown increasingly impatient with the slow progress of contract negotiations. ISU and the United Faculty of ISU have been bargaining a first contract for nearly one year.
Farmer pointed to a large stack of cards she brought with her to the meeting.
"This stack represents the tenure and tenure-track faculty who are willing to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract. Everyone in this stack, a militant majority, has committed to vote to authorize a strike, withhold their labor during the strike and walk a picket line should we fail to reach an agreement in a timely manner," she said.
Jessica Rick, an assistant professor in ISU's School of Communication, told trustees that parental leave has remained a sticking point between the two groups, adding a current proposal from the administration would not have allowed her to both keep her job and receive the health care she needed during a difficult pregnancy.
Rick said she wasn't at ISU at the time, but her experiences could easily be those of other faculty.
"As a new faculty member, I currently have 45 hours of sick leave. I would not have been able to make half of my prenatal appointments without those 45 hours being used up," she said. "With your current proposal, I have no paid leave options, I used up all of my sick leave and I don't have any vacation. ... ISU offers faculty no paid parental leave and, so far, the administration's bargaining team has been unwilling to change that."
Friday was one of several instances over the past year when faculty have given public comment decrying the status of contract negotiations with ISU; in that vein, Martha Horst, speaking on behalf of a campus communication group, urged trustees to consider how often labor relations between the university and its workers become fraught — and said it was often enough that a "pattern of discordant labor relations" spanning multiple presidencies had been noted.
"This continuing discord between ISU and its staff, faculty and student unions affects the entire campus community. Left unchecked, it could potentially create a negative public image for Illinois State University," she aid. "We call on the board of trustees to work with the administration to develop strategies for building a more productive and collaborative relationships with the union groups at Illinois State University."
Several students also spoke during public comment Friday, largely representing Students for Justice in Palestine. Many continued calls for ISU to divest from companies like Caterpillar and Siemens, among others.
Anthony Zárate-Espinoza, a senior, told trustees recent immigration enforcement efforts and deportations in Chicago and across the country have left some student groups feeling targeted. He told trustees some students felt a recent email from administration "felt like nothing more than an attempt to save face" and urged more specific communications on available resources to immigrant students, should enforcement efforts ever make their way to campus.
"We should not be scared of having our safe place be threatened when we have worked and fought so hard for them. It would be a dishonor and a disgrace to lose them now. We as students spend so much money to be here, yet many of us don't even feel safe here because of the lack of attention and resources we get," he said.
