The University Council passed a resolution Wednesday showing NIU’s opposition to proposed Board of Regents policy changes by asking the Regents to delay action.

The four points of the resolution include recommendations made by the Joint University Advisory Committee and the University Council Steering Committee. Regents Chancellor Rod Groves introduced the proposal at the Regents’ July meeting.

The American Association of University Professors also was included in the recommendation, but Gordon Dorn, the president of NIU’s AAUP chapter, motioned for the group to be stricken from the resolution because it exists outside of the UC. The AAUP sent a letter to the Board reiterating the points mentioned in the UC’s resolution.

The UC resolution asks the Board to delay its decision on the proposal at least one month for the interest of public communication. The three Regency campuses—NIU, Illinois State University and Sangamon State University—are questioning the proposal’s potential to limit the power of the university presidents and concentrate control in the hands of the Board.

The resolution states the UC supports the presidential direct access to the Regents and opposes “any effort to diminish the prestige and effectiveness of the office of university president and to limit the flow of public information” to the Regents.

The council strongly supports the opportunity for NIU to develop to its fullest potential and the proposal moves in the opposite direction, the resolution states.

UC Executive Secretary Carroll Moody said the memorandum sent by Groves to other Regents “may sound innocent or sterile in the language, but if you read the chancellor’s memo, you will see what those changes are all about.”

Efforts to gain the March memo through use of a Freedom of Information Act release were denied, but Moody said, “Everyone knew it would come out.” Groves’ memo was published in its entirety in Wednesday’s Northern Star.

NIU President John La Tourette also read his written statement on the University Council resolution, which was met with applause by the council before they unanimously passed the resolution.

“I would hope that on this important occasion they (the Regents) will allow adequate time for full discussion of the proposed statements,” La Tourette said. “A university must always be a place for open discussion and reason when differences of opinion occur.”

In other business, the UC voted to waive the bylaws of the new faculty senate so the Board can approve an amendment to the university’s constitution. La Tourette said the amendment will come up for approval at the Board of Regents’ Sept. 21 meeting.

The Regents cannot vote on the bylaws, but can vote on the amendment. The amendment calls for the discontinuation of the 31-member Faculty Assembly. An 80-member Faculty Senate would be formed next fall to replace the Assembly.