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UIS group considers
options for new housing
By Tom Cronin
Faculty members and
administrators at the Oct. 8 General Education Working Group
meeting discussed several housing options for the group of
four-year general education undergraduates who will likely be
admitted to UIS beginning in fall 2006.
After working group members
shared their ideas about residency requirements for the proposed
group of students, Working Group Director Karen Moranski said
that there seemed to be a consensus among the members to aim for
a class size of 150 students.
A class size of 150 students has
recently been “floated around” on campus, and members of the
Admissions staff have been working based on this projection,
said Darren Bush, director of admissions and records.
Dr. Christopher Miller, vice
chancellor for student affairs, said that the working group
would need to determine an approximate number of general
education freshmen who would live on campus before Housing
personnel can move forward with plans for a new residence hall.
“Once we have our marching orders
from [the working group], then we will proceed accordingly,”
Miller said.“…Once the curriculum is in place and there’s a
determination as to what the numbers look like, we can move
ahead to do other things.”
Pat Langley, chairwoman of Campus
Senate and professor of women’s studies and legal studies,
questioned whether it would be necessary to build a residence
hall. She introduced an idea suggesting that it might be best
from a financial standpoint to admit 500 general education
freshmen students each year while foregoing plans for a
residence hall, but said she was not recommending that the
working group act on the idea.
Although he said that the idea of
admitting 500 students into this new group each year is “off the
table completely,” Bush said that there is great interest among
residents of Springfield and the surrounding area in a four-year
program at UIS that is different from the Capital Scholars
program.
“But we also have to keep in
mind,” Bush added, “that if part of this goal, of course, is to
build a campus, then we can’t have more students commuting than
are living on campus – not enough, initially. But, you’ve got to
start somewhere, [and] you’ve got to build in a new direction.”
Miller and Housing Director John
Ringle said that they were considering two plans for building a
new residence hall, privatized housing and university-sponsored
housing.
A committee solicited potential
vendors last year for the privatized construction, financing and
development of a new residence hall, and they selected
Texas-based Collegiate Development Services as the preferred
vendor, Ringle has said. The university has since opted out of
the privatized housing process.
According to Miller, the
construction of a new residence hall would take approximately 12
to 14 months. Ringle said that if the working group completes
its work in February, only 17 months would remain for
construction until August 2006.
A university-sponsored housing
process would most likely result in a delay that would prevent
the construction of a residence hall before fall 2006, Miller
said. The university should still be able to house the general
education freshmen, he said, as long as it admits approximately
150 of these students, with 50 of them opting not to live on
campus.
Between Lincoln Residence Hall
and the campus apartments and townhouses, UIS can accommodate
approximately 830 on-campus students, Ringle said. The occupancy
rate is currently 91 percent, which amounts to approximately 75
available beds, he said.
Fifty-four students from Lincoln
Land Community College currently live on the UIS campus, Ringle
said. Displacing these students would increase the number of
available beds to 129.
Admitting 100 general education
freshmen without a new residential facility would allow UIS
faculty and administrators to petition University Administration
and the Board of Trustees for a new building that would not
involve a privatized housing process, Miller said.
“I would tell you that this would
get an awful lot of support if that were to happen, as opposed
to building it and they come, and they are here and in the
building,” he said. “… From a budgetary perspective, it’ll make
sense. It makes a lot of sense.”
Search committee
seeks new athletic director
By Jason Stuebe
The Athletic Department,
which is still reeling from the Athletic Review Task Force’s
report, received word on Friday that a nation-wide search would
begin for UIS’ third Athletic Director immediately.
The search committee will
be comprised of members of the Intercollegiate Athletics
Committee, which is chaired by Dr. Marcel Yoder. The IAC is
meeting today to lay down the ground work of the process.
A substantial change in
the title of the position is also in the mix. Hailing back to
the days of SSU, the position will be the Director of Athletics
and Recreational Sports.
Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs Chris Miller, who maintains oversight of the
Athletic Department and will serve as the clearinghouse for
incoming applications and résumés did not respond to interview
requests as of this edition’s deadline.
Current Athletic Director
Nick Adams, who came on board in the Spring of 2002, had no
comment regarding the decision to convene a search committee or
his future plans though he will continue to serve in his roll as
Athletic Director for the time being.
The founding of a search
committee is standard operating procedure to find the head of a
department. The search process will entail analysis of
applicants’ résumés, telephone interviews, and interviews with
the search committee and campus administration.
While searches of this
nature can take up to six months, the committee is operating on
a timeline that is scheduled to begin on November 15th
and conclude with an offer being made to the successful
candidate on December 17th.
Summers discusses
patronage during Lincoln's presidency
By Chris Sabo
On Thursday night, UIS welcomed Mark Summers, the
second of three lectors in the 2004 Lincoln Legacy Lecture
series.
 Summers,
a history professor at the University of Kentucky-Lexington,
focused on patronage and its effects on American political
history from 1850-1896. His lecture was titled, “The
Politics of Patronage in Lincoln’s Era.”
As Summers approached the stage, I was intrigued
by his small stature yet powerful persona. Dressed in blue
slacks, a white dress shirt accompanied by a red tie and a gray
sport coat, Summers immediately took control of the mostly adult
crowd. He spoke with pure power and emotion, letting everyone
know he was a foremost expert on Lincoln’s presidency and his
topic, patronage.
For those who are unaware, patronage is loosely
defined as the exchange of money or services for something in
return.
In this presentation, Summers described patronage
as “the way of expressing gratitude to the working man for a job
well done.” This can be interpreted as giving “favors” to
friends of Lincoln and the Republican Party who had through and
through supported their efforts during the election.
Lincoln’s cabinet, while in the White House, was
looked upon as an example of how to run the presidency without
expressing too much patronage, Summers said. Lincoln had a
smarter touch than any president who had previously been in
office.
Simon Cameron was a part of Lincoln’s cabinet and
selected to be the minister of Russia. Cameron said an “honest
man, one he’s bought, stays bought.” This statement loosely
defines the feelings of political party supporters and
candidates at the time. People often stayed loyal to the party
who had reciprocated good deeds in exchange for their support.
Summers mentioned Lincoln was a very smart and
witty president. He “took on fights we could win.” This being
said, Lincoln had such strong belief in his cabinet, he relied
on other trusted cabinet members to make sound decisions with
the understanding they were all trying to accomplish a similar
goal.
Summers concluded his presentation with three
words that are synonymous with great politicians both in the
past and present. “Keep your word.” Afterwards, Summers
entertained a few questions with quick-witted answers, only
equaled by others of his experience and in-depth knowledge. The
evening was concluded by a small reception afterwards offering
only the finest desserts UIS has to offer.
According to the University of Kentucky website,
Mark W. Summers is the author of several books and articles on
19th century politics. He earned his Bachelor of Arts
degree from Yale University and his M.A, M.L.S., and Ph.D. from
the University of California at Berkeley.
He is currently a history professor at the
University of Kentucky-Lexington where he specializes in
Southern History and Nineteenth Century American History.
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