The Institute of Aviation can breathe a sigh of relief — at least for now.

The Urbana-Champaign Senate voted Monday afternoon against the “proposal”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/04/uc_senate_to_vote_on_closure_of_aviation to close the Institute and eliminate the Bachelor of Science in Aviation Human Factors. The vote, 57-54, stood against the Educational Policy Committee’s formal “recommendation to shut down”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/04/committee_okrsquos_motion_for_shutdown_of_aviation the Institute.

However, Interim Chancellor Robert Easter and Interim Provost Richard Wheeler could still bring this proposal up to the Board of Trustees at its June 9 meeting in Chicago.

Tom Emanuel, interim director of Aviation, said he expects Easter and Wheeler to take the proposal to the board, and thus, Aviation is still at risk of closure.

“Our next job is to educate the Board of Trustees members as to the value of Aviation and what we’re trying to do to soften the expenses to the state,” he said.

Emanuel added that the argument to the board will be similar to the one presented before the senate, but will not go into as much detail.

“There’s certainly nothing we didn’t say today that we wouldn’t be happy to say to the Board of Trustees,” Emanuel said. “It’s just going to be a matter of trying to figure out what’s going to be the most helpful to them to help them understand our case.”

The major arguments at the senate meeting centered on budget issues and the Institute fitting the core mission of the University.

Paul Diehl, senate member and professor in political science, said the Institute has not shown it can keep its doors open in the future.

“Would you devote the resources to a unit that has no faculty, a unit that cannot meet University admission requirements? I don’t think you make that investment,” Diehl said. “There are private and public alternates (in aviation) for the state.”

Cole Goldenberg, Aviation student senator, said rekindling the Institute could be beneficial to the University in the long run.

“This is an opportunity for the state to make money. You give the Institute a chance not only to rebuild, but “to improve”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/02/iss_member_students_speak_out_against_proposal_to_close_aviation_school,” Goldenberg said. “This can take the University out of mediocrity.”

According to the Institute of Aviation, the University administration has deliberately taken steps to dismantle the Institute in order to justify closing it.

“Many of the senators feel that the campus administration handled this very badly and inappropriately from the beginning,” Emanuel said. “Getting rid of faculty before anyone knew about it (and) telling us we couldn’t admit any more students before a vote had been taken; those were the two big backward steps that helped influenced the vote today.”

During the formal recommendation, Educational Policy Committee chair Abbas Aminmansour was careful not to sway the committee members during their votes on April 4, even abstaining from the votes. He said the committee has been very careful in taking all the necessary steps in the process of reorganization.

“Two (Educational Policy Committee) votes speaks for the lack of confidence,” said Goldenberg. “It does not represent the entire senate, and it does not represent the entire University’s view on a certain point.”