The Urbana-Champaign Senate finished its business for the academic year at its meeting Monday, voting on eight proposals to round out the year.
The governing body approved the Institute of Universal Biology, a new organization funded by NASA. The institute will provide a place for professors of all different areas of biology to collaborate on biology outside the parameters of Earth.
The senate recommended a new electronic communications policy to the provost. The new policy addresses electronic communication under the new Microsoft Lync phone system. The text of the policy will be changed by the Office of University Counsel before it can become the University’s official policy.
A long-term project to update the language of the academic integrity portion of the Student Code was recommended by the senate after many professors said they have been noticing an increased amount of plagiarism lately. The text was changed to help make policies regarding students’ appeal cases more effective. Debate surrounded the recommendation in terms of the language of a few of the changes, but the original text was passed after the body decided it was only a recommendation, rather than an official document.
In his final remarks to the senate, Chairman Matthew Wheeler honored Parliamentarian Ken Andersen, who has worked for the University for more than 40 years. Monday’s meeting was Andersen’s last before retirement.
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Chancellor Phyllis Wise also honored Wheeler, who finished his term Monday. He will be replaced by current Vice Chair Roy Campbell. Wise applauded Wheeler’s work during his term and said he has demonstrated just how strong shared governance can make a University.
Also at the meeting, Michael Andrechak, associate chancellor and vice provost for budget and resource planning, gave the senate an overview of the University’s finances and its business plan heading into the future. In his remarks to the senate, Senator John Kindt told the body that it needs to continue to follow news regarding pensions throughout the summer because of the battles currently going on in the state government.
Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.
