Correction added

David Maurer, a retired history professor, went to Student Senate and Faculty Senate at the beginning of the year to discuss his proposal for a day care center at Eastern.

President Bill Perry said if Staff Senate, Student Senate and Faculty Senate were for the program, more steps would be made to make it a reality.

“Texas A&M is where President Perry used to work and he was the academic vice president and provost,” Maurer said. “That school had a program with day care as well.”

Maurer originally thought up the proposal for a day care center at Eastern when he was coordinator of faculty development in the 1980s and Shirley Moore, dean of academic development at the time, also helped with the proposal.

“The proposal was that Eastern establish a day care setup for the faculty, staff and students,” Maurer said.

Maurer said the program in the family and consumer science department was just an adjunct of the childhood and early development program when he worked at Eastern.

It was not a daily program that went on when school was in session, he said.

“It was only a part-time program,” Maurer said. “What we [Maurer and Moore] proposed was something that was full-time and would go from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It would exist during the time that school was in session.”

Faculty Senate chair John Pommier said the family and consumer science program is still not a full-time childcare program.

He said it is just a class for students in the education program.

“Some may look at it as a childcare program and the children are being cared for, but it is not a childcare facility,” Pommier said. “Children who go there have been going there for several years and are only there for less than two hours when they get together.”

Part of Maurer’s old proposal was to involve other departments besides early childhood education as well.

“Our program was to involve departments such as the recreation and child psychology department and be an educating experience for the youngsters in the program,” Maurer said. “It was not going to be directed towards infants, though, the children would be more around three or four years old.”

Maurer said the Faculty Senate chair two or three years ago also investigated the possibility of a day care center, but it fell through.

“A couple of faculty members had heard that I had been involved in this proposal and known of other universities that had programs for faculty, staff and children and they wanted to know more about it,” Maurer said. “Moore tried to find our original proposal and she even searched in the archives, but we had no luck there.”

As of now, Maurer and Moore are going on their memories. Moore has researched programs at a number of other schools.

Maurer said this could be a good benefit for students, faculty and staff and great benefit for the youngsters.

He added Eastern could use this as a recruiting tool.

Pommier said Faculty Senate would be discussing the topic on Nov. 4.

“We are going to discuss as a senate the issue of childcare,” Pommier said. “We will overall be answering a lot of questions about bringing childcare to campus and finding out what is going to be investigated. We will decide if there is a push, need or desire to take the next step.”

Pommier said there is no word on the cost or site and that is what would need to be discussed at the meeting.

“We need to find out if what we have already is sufficient,” Pommier said. “Once we have data to support it, we will listen to the concerns and hear what potential plans there are so we can make a final decision.”

Since Maurer and Moore are both retired, they would not have much to do with the program if it got off the ground, Maurer said.

“Moore and I could be used as resources, but we could not be involved in who would organize it, what departments would be involved, fees or anything else,” Maurer said.

He said if Student Senate, Faculty Senate and Staff Senate came together, maybe they could make a joint committee appointed by the President Perry.

Student Senate Speaker Isaac Sandidge said Student Senate does not have any proposals for the program written out as of yet.

“We would probably wait until Faculty Senate made their decision on the matter on Nov. 4,” Sandidge said. “The program seems like a good idea, but we need more data to make a better decision.”

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or at haholm@eiu.edu.

David Maurer, a retired English professor who spent 32 years at Eastern, sits at the playground at University Apartments. Maurer wrote a proposal while he was the coordinator of faculty development in the late 1980s to bring a childcare center on campus t

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