University Council members voiced discontent with a proposal to alter NIU’s academic calendar during their December meeting.

The proposal, which would kick the beginning of classes back by one week, was reviewed by committee unanimously advised that the proposal be turned down.

Eddie Williams, vice president of Finance and Planning, said he believed the proposal had not been viewed fairly by committee C. The “Raw data, itself, without interpretation” which committee C reviewed “led to the wrong conclusions,” William said.

“The bottom line is this,” he said. “The ECC (Energy Conservation Committee) believes strongly that we need to thoroughly address this calendar concept because it does have the potential of $250,000 in savings per year on its own, and it opens an opportunity for extended shutdowns from which additional resources can be obtained.”

Williams motioned tha the UC table the proposal until its next meeting in January, where the ECC could present the proposal before the entire council.

UC Executive Secretary Norman Magden noted that Williams could not make the motion on the grounds, that he is a non-voting member of the UC. Eventually, the motion was made and seconded by other council members and passed by a narrow margin.

Later in the meeting, the proposal was brought back to the floor amid controversy over the planned Campus Life Building.

“Committee C heard this (the proposal). We had a detailed letter. We did the arithmetic. There was full attendance at that (committee C) meeting. We voted unanimously not to change the calendar,” said Robert Lane, professor of operations management and information systems.

“You can bring it back one time, two times or 40 times, but that calendar is not going to change. If you want to look elsewhere for energy savings – God bless you. We think that’s a great idea.”

Lane said the savings gathered through the calendar change would not be in the best interest of the students. “It’s all nickels and dimes,” Lane said. “We are talking about, at best ,10 bucks per student per year. That’s ridiculous. Find the money somewhere else.”

Student Association President Paul Middleton said the SA “unanimously supported a resolution against the calendar changes.”

President La Tourette ended the discussion by noting the importance of saving money at NIU.

“We’ve got to be serious about energy savings. We’ve got to be serious about reallocation through PQP (the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s Priorities, Quality, and Productivity initiative) because it is very clear the governor is not going to allow very much additional funding to go to state universities, so we are going to have to look at these issues.”

Also at the meeting, La Tourette announced a planned augmentation to NIU’s library materials budget. He said the university would add $200,000 to the year’s budget and $100,000 annually thereafter.

“It’s important to understand that no cuts have been made in the library’s budget, but inflation has risen at 10 to 15 percent a year in terms of library materials,” La Tourette said. “Essentially, the budget is being eroded. I hope this will turn around some of the problems we’ve had with the library.”