The Illinois Student Senate discussed the potential recommendation of the Investment, Performance and Accountability Commitment, which was approved by the Board of Trustees earlier in November, among other things at its meeting Wednesday night.  

The agreement, also known as IPAC, was presented by UI President Timothy Killeen. It would guarantee a budget for all three University campuses for five years from the state, and in return, the three universities will help the state with certain things that were not specified at the meeting.

Accountant and University alum Shawn Gordon argued against IPAC because he does not believe the state is fiscally stable enough to guarantee that money would be paid to the University according to the agreement.

Mid-way through the meeting, IPAC was debated during a 30-minute time limit. Vice President External Alex Villanueva said he is in support of IPAC.

“It would be trail blazing,” he said. “This is the kind of plan that is great and will do great things. It will set a standard for public universities and state governments.”

Senator for the College of Business Sam LeRoy, junior in business, agreed the deal is generous and will prevent universities from being “strung year-to-year.”

However, no concrete decision was made on whether to support IPAC.

Additionally, some concerns arose in the senate over Vice President Internal Spencer Haydary’s newly-elected position as the president of the Illini Democrats. No senators publicly addressed these concerns, but Haydary did during officer comment.

“I’m still the same Spencer that I was at the last senate meeting, and I’m very cognizant of my role in both (the senate and Illini Democrats),” he said. “My promise to you all is anything that involves the senate and Illini Democrats, I won’t participate in the discussion and the debate. I will never incorporate my ideology (in the senate). I will look at the facts.”

Along with Haydary’s comments about Illini Democrats, President Ron Lewis gave an update on the senate’s progress in bridging the gap between the executive board and senators.

“Having that transparency is something that is really important to me,” he said. “I want you all to feel comfortable to talk to (the executive board). We are sending out a survey tonight about how you all feel we’ve been doing throughout the semester.”

There were no resolutions for actions during this meeting, but there was a resolution for information about undergraduate applications. Information was given about possibly putting the undergraduate application to the University on the common application instead of having potential students log in to the University website and make an account to fill out a separate application there.

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