The University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted to extend President B. Joseph White’s contract during Thursday’s meeting at the Springfield campus.

White entered into his current contract on Feb. 1, 2005, and it was scheduled to end in January 2010. The Board extended it by 18 months, but did not alter any other provisions of his existing contract, including his $450,000 annual salary.

Chairman Lawrence Eppley thanked White for his commitment to the University and said the Board was pleased he was there.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve as president; it’s a great privilege because I’m so passionate about the University,” White said.

How the University would prepare for and combat pending financial difficulties remained the underlying theme of the meeting.

White said he had asked the three chancellors to produce plans that would prepare their campuses to manage reduced funds.

However, he emphasized that the quality of education provided by the University of Illinois system would not be jeopardized, and students would still be provided with the courses they needed.

After a meeting of the Urbana-Champaign Senate last week, White removed an agenda item for the Board to give Global Campus independent accreditation. Its original structure relied on employees from the three existing campuses to maintain the program.

“Under the partnerships model, Global Campus depends on programs coming from the campuses at a voluntary process,” White said. “The campuses have not come forth with the programs we need to offer.”

He said there were four options for the future of Global Campus: continue it unchanged, terminate the program, seek accreditation for Global Campus or embed it in one of the three residential campuses.

The student-faculty senates at the residential campuses are divided on how to approach Global Campus. The Springfield campus was especially interested in embedding the program in its curriculum.

“I think that our online education at UIS has proven that we are one of the leaders in online courses,” said Craig McFarland, student trustee from the Springfield campus.

White said Global Campus would increase access to the University by allowing quality education to reach people without the means to attend a residential campus.

“Increasing access has often been seen as a threat to the current quality of the University of Illinois. UIC has not detracted from the quality of the University, and neither has UIS,” White said. “I believe becoming a member of the University of Illinois family raises the quality of all of our campuses.”

Most of the trustees voiced their interests to continue forward with Global Campus, but to alter the current plan.

“We’re at a crossroads here,” said trustee Devon Bruce. “The administration made a decision to begin without the accreditation process, and I think we all agree that program without accreditation has not met our goals.”

The Board agreed for discussion to be continued with the faculty-student senates, and for the issue to be re-addressed at the January board meeting.

“If we vote for accreditation, then Global Campus must begin to succeed, said trustee Robert Vickrey. “It might be something we can’t do. I would be in favor of moving forward with accreditation, but if it doesn’t move forward, we cannot continue it.”