Two items related to the independent accreditation of Global Campus were met with opposition at Wednesday’s University of Illinois Board of Trustees meeting.

The items were to appoint a chief executive for Global Campus and to approve the constitution for the academic policy council, a supervising body of the entity that was created at January’s meeting.

After some amendment, both items were approved; however the board used the meeting to seriously discuss the status of Global Campus.

Trustee Ken Schmidt brought discussion of the issues to the table.

“There are issues with what we’re hearing from the University administration and the faculty senates,” Schmidt said. “We are getting violent opposition to Global Campus. I don’t know what steps to take next with this.”

Chet Gardner, special assistant to the president and director of Global Campus, said these items were legal requirements from the Higher Learning Commission, and it was necessary for them to pass in order for the Global Campus accreditation process to move forward.

Currently, there are four degree programs poised to be launched in September, and Gardner said without approval of these agenda items, they could not be launched. These four programs would be the first under the independent Global Campus institution.

“For whatever reason, the board rushed this independent accreditation,” said trustee David Dorris. “We need to slow down. We need to stop this process and find out what’s going on.”

University of Illinois President B. Joseph White said the administration needed to produce a report to be sent to the board briefing the trustees on the status of Global Campus and the issues associated with the entity.

Dorris said the board needed to slow the accreditation process for Global Campus because of faculty opposition and economic issues.

The student-faculty senate at the Urbana campus has been notoriously opposed to Global Campus and the board’s decision to seek independent accreditation.

“The attitude that I hear expressed most often is that we value the mission that Global Campus was established to serve,” said Nick Burbules, the Urbana-Champaign Senate executive committee chair.

Many faculty members, especially on the Urbana campus, have voiced concerns about Global Campus diminishing the value and quality of a University degree.

“I’m having a difficult time supporting something when two of the three faculty groups are adamantly opposed to it,” Schmidt said.

Dorris also addressed the financial issues associated with Global Campus. Since the board authorized Global Campus in November, the economy has plummeted, as have University endowments.

“We’re ignoring the fact of the economics,” Dorris said.

“Right now we’re fighting to keep this place together for your students who have been a part of this institution for the past 140 years.”

However, Gardner said it would be financially detrimental for the University to not continue forward with Global Campus.

“I sent a memo that indicated $4.7 million has been drawn from the board authorized credit line,” Gardner said. “If we stop Global Campus now, its going to cost another $6 to 7 million to shut it down.”

Craig McFarland, student trustee from Springfield, spoke against the items, and said students are upset about the large amount of money being spent on Global Campus.

McFarland voted no for the agenda items, as did board chairman Niranjan Shah, Dorris and Urbana student trustee Paul Schmitt.

“We’re hearing alarming disconnect,” Dorris said. “I don’t want to see that disconnect.

“When we took the decision in November, our world of running this University has turned upside down.”

Board approves settlement for woman’s death

The University of Illinois has agreed to pay $9 million to the family of a Valparaiso, Ind., woman who died during surgery last year at a university hospital in Chicago.

Michelle Ballog, who was 39, died April 26 from respiratory arrest at the University of Illinois Medical Center. She was having surgery on her liver.

Ballog’s family filed a claim against the University accusing hospital staff of failing to appropriately respond to her respiratory arrest.

University trustees unanimously agreed to the settlement at a meeting Wednesday.

The Associated Press