The Board of Regents will discuss a controversial initiative which could result in severe program cuts for public higher education when it meets today at 1 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center.

The Regents will discuss the Priorities, Quality and Productivity (PQP) initiative, which is designed to streamline public higher education through the elimination of academic programs. Arthur Quern, Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) chairman, is the creator of PQP and has drawn the ire of many in the higher education community for his plan.

At the September Regents meeting, sharp criticism of PQP and the IBHE was voiced.

Thomas Wallace, president of Illinois State University at

Normal, said the IBHE had “made a joke of the process.”

NIU President John La Tourette added that if the PQP process wasn’t a collaborative effort, it would be “war.”

The outpouring of criticism was the result of mission statements faxed to the Regency school presidents, defining what a university can and should do in terms of academic programs.

The statements, if changed, could pave the way for academic cuts.

The Regents said the IBHE had moved “unilaterally” in issuing the altered statements and at the end of the meeting, fired off a letter to Quern outlining the Regents’ position.

Quern’s reply implied that “process” was being used as an obstacle to change and that people were stalling the PQP initiative.

“We weren’t stalling. I don’t think anyone was trying to stall,” said Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves. “We just feel that this process has to be a cooperative enterprise.”

Groves said the Regents’ position is that consultation needs to take place between the Regents, universities and IBHE in the development of mission statements.

Groves said he feels the process has taken on a much more positive tone since the last Regents meeting.

“I have received assurances that the IBHE is not moving unilaterally,” Groves said.

Groves said no action will be taken on the mission statement issue at today’s committee meetings. The Finance and Facilities Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in the Heritage Room, while the Academic and Student Affairs Committee is slated to convene at 2 p.m. in the Illinois Room. The Joint University Advisory Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in room 506 of the student center.

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