As a result of University scandals in recent years, the Urbana-Champaign Senate is recommending that Chancellor Phyllis Wise put together a committee to create a campus-wide integrity statement.

The senate unanimously approved a resolution to do so at its meeting Monday with no discussion, after it was passed to the body from the Illinois Student Senate.

Not an academic policy, the integrity statement will list ethical guidelines for members of the campus community, said Keenan Kassar, student senator and senior in Business.

“I’m not looking for more policy because we have plenty of that,” he said. “But I think it would be productive to have a one-page statement that sets out our priorities as a University in regards to integrity.”

After the Illinois Student Senate passed its resolution regarding this issue in October, Keenan and fellow student senators Jim Maskeri, senior in LAS, and Carey Hawkins Ash, graduate student, created a resolution to present to the academic senate.

“The resolution … does not suggest that current efforts to remain ethical have failed; rather, it is our hope that the statement will serve as a formal supplement to the campus’ continuing commitment to ethical practices,” Maskeri said.

“For now, all I can say is that we will be looking at this in the near future,” said Ilesanmi Adesida, vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost.

Kassar said the committee would ideally consist of faculty, administrators, students and staff, as the integrity statement would affect everyone at the University.

Over the past few years, the University “has been affected by scandals in recent years, including last year’s transgressions at the highest echelons of university governance,” as stated in the resolution proposal.

Other Big Ten schools have integrity statements similar to the one Kassar hoped for, including Purdue University and Ohio State University.

This resolution states such an integrity statement does not exist in any University statutes.

Kassar said creating a list of integrity priorities would give the University a “cleaner image.”

Ideally, he said, the statement will be posted online, in the administrative manual and within the student code for increased visibility.

“I think (an integrity statement) is a piece of inspiration to do good and behave ethically,” Kassar said. “It’s a cultural statement, really. We’d be creating a culture of integrity.”

Lauren can be reached at [email protected].