NIU’s student Regent and the Student Association will keep close tabs on the Board of Regents this week when the Regents meet to discuss policy changes.

The proposed policy changes outlined this summer by Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves will be discussed Wednesday and Thursday at the Regents meeting at Illinois State University.

The SA plans to prepare a resolution based on the Regents discussion. “We do have time to make a response to what happens in this meeting,” said NIU student Regent Bob Tisch.

SA President Huda Scheidelman said the SA will prepare a resolution “if it appears that the campus pulse is being disregarded by the Board of Regents.” The SA wants the proposed policy changes altered or repealed, she said.

The Regents govern NIU, ISU and Sangamon State University in Springfield.

“The campuses of the system are different in their responses. Sangamon State has just had a large collective bargaining process which was just over this week, so they’re not very heavily involved,” Tisch said at Sunday’s SA meeting.

“The two most important campuses, NIU and ISU, are pretty well up in arms about these changes and what they actually represent,” he said.

“I know ISU and Sangamon State (student governments) are completely opposed to the policies,” Scheidelman said.

“They (the Regents) really want the presidents of the universities to understand who’s running the show,” Tisch said.

The Regents will vote on the proposed changes in October, when the Board will meet at NIU.

One change proposes that university presidents be responsible to the board through the chancellor. “That is the most significant and the most telling thing about what is going on here. The language will give the chancellor somewhat more ability to intercede in what, until now, was considered purely campus activities,” he said.

“It’s open-ended at this point,” Tisch said. “The language allows the chancellor to get involved with basically anything he wants.”

When Groves addressed the NIU Faculty Assembly Aug. 30, he said the proposal was a response to NIU’s and ISU’s attempts to gain separate governing boards. “The board had significant activity in stopping the separate board movement,” Tisch said.