Chancellor Richard Herman attended the weekly meeting of the Illinois Student Senate Wednesday night and answered questions concerning campus sustainability while also addressing some lingering concerns over the University’s budget situation.

“We’ve had our ups and downs financially over the course of the last 10 years, and now we’re facing a difficult time,” Herman said as he spoke in front of members of the senate. “But we still need to carry our legacy of excellence forward.”

One question was in response to the e-mail, which focused on the University’s financial situation, sent to the University students and faculty by the Chancellor’s office last week.

Specifically, Dan Weber, student senator and sophomore in LAS, asked Chancellor Herman how the University planned to increase revenue in the near future.

“We need to involve a greater number of alumni,” said Herman. “When you look at the number of those that are actively involved, there are too few. So we need to increase that number.”

Herman also indicated that he had not given up on receiving funds from the state, but also said that there was “no doubt” that the University needed to be proactive in generating its own income.

Additionally, the chancellor discussed concerns about cutting energy costs around campus, saying that the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, as well as the School of Music building, had already benefited from utilizing resources such as energy-efficient light bulbs.

“We went into Krannert and cut their energy bill by 25 percent,” Herman said. “We went to the School of Music Building and cut it by 20 percent. We need to find ways to motivate people to use those resources.”

One of the many items up for discussion in the student senate on Wednesday also dealt with possibly fixing allocations for energy spending in campus departments.

Weber said that the item would provide incentives for colleges to cut energy costs, but senators Robert Gregg and Jason Webber, both graduate students, voiced their concerns about implementing this kind of system in a department like engineering.

“With super-computers and the kind of research on the engineering side of campus, it’s difficult to have a fixed amount of funds for energy.” Gregg said.