NIU President John Peters got the University Council meeting in progress Wednesday by expressing his reaction to the Oct. 3 State of the University Address.

“My belief was that when the clouds were gathering, I realized what an amazing vitality that this institution has, and that isn’t sugar-coating anything,” Peters said.

The president also mentioned next month’s gubernatorial election.

“There is also a political transaction occurring next month,” he said. “We need to continue to work together, and we will prosper when the economy does turn around.”

Peters also said that with the emergence of a new governor, the state may take back some of the expenditures that were already given to NIU.

He warned the council that it needs to be careful with equipment expenditures and travel costs, because “at some point, it may be required that we give it back,” Peters said. “This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone because we usually go through this every November.”

Peters assured the council that he works every day to get more state funding and that his number one concern is faculty raises.

Faculty Senate President Sue Willis reported on the Sept. 19 Board of Trustees meeting, highlighting the DeKalb County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is the new group that will guide DeKalb’s future transportation infrastructure.

“The DeKalb County MPO was discussed at some length,” Willis said. “DeKalb is turning into an urbanized county and the addition of more roadways is a concern. I believe this will be happening in the very near future.”

The trustees passed a resolution supporting the participation of NIU as a voting member on the policy and technical committees to be formed.

“One voting member of the technical committee will be a student,” Peters said. “It is my hope that Annie Glidden never happens again.”

While the Glidden reference was taken with laughs, Peters had no intention of making a joke out of it.

“People have lost their lives on that road and you can’t really blame anyone,” he said. “I’m just proud that this issue is being looked at.”

Herb Rubin, chair of the Resources, Space and Budgets Committee, was not present, but his minutes from the committee’s Sept. 18 meeting were. Items suggested included a general brainstorming about the direction the university should take in developing the western 240 acres of the campus.

Faculty members pointed out that a number of students have arrived late to class this year because of the expansion of the campus. Peters assured that this is the committee’s primary concern.

“I’m concerned with students coming late to classes on the west side from the east side, because it’s happening a lot,” said Patricia Henry, NIU’s representative to the Faculty Advisory Council.

A discussion involved the removal of the Student Affairs Advisory Council from “the committees of the university handbook,” as suggested by Vice Provost Gary Gresholdt. He tried to make it very clear to council members that he did not want to disregard the SAAC in anyway, but because it’s not a working committee that takes minutes and moves motions at its meetings, it is not technically defined as an actual committee.

The motion was passed with a 28-10 vote.

“This shouldn’t be confused with a phone book,” University Council member Sue Kaplan said. “We shouldn’t be worrying about what shouldn’t be there, but more on what should be in the handbook.”

The last topic referred the proposed university holidays for 2004 and 2005 to the University Affairs Committee, particularly a fall break. The break had little to no support, while eliminating classes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was considered highly.

There has since been no action toward the change and it will continue to be actionless until January 2003. The distinction between a university holiday and an academic holiday is that faculty members receive pay for university holidays.