Faculty council discusses campus finance, athletics report

Many issues were discussed at the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday evening, including reports on campus finances, the IU Athletics Committee and the possibility of a "lunch space" for faculty.\n"These are really critical issues, and I'm delighted the faculty is investigating the matters closely," said Faculty Council President Bob Eno.\nThis year's budget was difficult to structure, said Professor Maynard Thompson, Dean for Budgetary Administration and Planning.\n"Each budget development cycle has its own character. The issues to be considered, the priorities, the constraints and the timeline all vary from year to year," Thompson said in a statement read at the meeting. "The development of (this) budget presented as many challenges as any during the more than 20 years that I have been involved in budget planning and construction..."\nOne of the first issues regarding the budget was the uncertainty surrounding it, Thompson said. He said the Indiana Higher Education Commission responded positively about IU's operating appropriation request of $11.5 million for the 2002 fiscal year, although the State Budget Agency ordered reductions of $6.4 million for that year, changing the budget planning process. \nThe average increase in faculty salaries was the largest in several years, and provisions were made for "essential continuing expenditures" -- reasons the budget was well-received, Thompson said. But he said funding is "severely limited" and "no provisions were made for hiring new faculty" aside from preserving funds and ensuring that money for increments were possible.\n"The extremely modest increase in state appropriation and the continued erosion of state appropriation per resident undergraduate student in real terms, is certainly troublesome," Thompson said.\nThe issue will be further discussed at a later Faculty Council meeting, Eno said.\nIU Athletics Committee report\nProfessors Bruce Jaffee, William Perkins and Athletics Director Michael McNeely presented the report of the IU Athletics Committee and Discussion of Intercollegiate Athletics to the faculty council.\nGraduation rates of 1994-95 freshmen athletes was comparable in numbers to the rates of all students of that class, Perkins said. The committee also reviewed the grade point averages, progress toward graduation and other measures of academic success. The committee found that in most cases, the performances of athletes to be "at or above the levels of campus averages" and those of other universities.\n"We're doing OK," Perkins said. "We'd like to do better."\nThe committee was also involved in the development of the "Statement of Principles on the Conduct of Participants in Student Athletic Programs," searching for a new athletics director and associate athletics director and was consulted in the decision to terminate Bob Knight as men's basketball coach, according to the report.\n'Lunch space' for IU faculty\nThe idea of issuing "lunch space" for IU faculty was also briefly discussed at Tuesday's meeting. Eno said instructors would be questioned through a one-page survey as to their need for a separate dining facility. Also, a potential "tuition exchange agreement" among Big Ten universities was brought up. Such an agreement might involve allowing the children of university faculty to attend participating institutions at an in-state tuition rate, making the IU benefits package for faculty more attractive.