Faculty Senate will be hearing a resolution about a proposal put forward by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to get their own funding and leave the rest of the states’ universities to fend for themselves.

Senator Billy Hung wrote a proposal in regards to a proposal sent by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to Springfield about securing funding for themselves.

Hung said he first learned about the proposal through the newspaper, where he learned from a Chicago Tribune article where the U of I is proposing they get funding through a guaranteed funding model.

To get the funding U of I proposed, they must achieve the criteria of the model tied to the 2015 fiscal year budget.

“The list of things they promise to do includes enrolling certain numbers of Illinois residents, putting aside certain amount of money for scholarships and financial assistance and keeping the international student ratio,” Hung said.

Some concerns Hung has for the proposal is the number of recruited students they want is the number they currently have. Another problem Hung has with the proposal is the number of Illinois residents U of I has taken students away from regional universities, like Eastern.

Hung said the proposal does not measure things such as critical thinking, job placement and retention when it comes to how much funding the U of I deserves.

“The larger objection is really they are protecting their own system without coordinating with the other regional schools,” Hung said.

Hung said the resolution is a way for the faculty senate to put their foot down and saying what is being proposed is wrong.

“Hopefully we will get in touch with some other campuses, talk to their faculty senate and see if there is something to be done about this. I do not think that is the nice thing to do or even a rational thing to do because we are in public education together,” Hung said.

Senate chair Jemmie Robertson said it is important to fund all upper education institutions rather than the flagship university of the state.

“We are calling on our colleagues to seek funding for all our institutions,” Robertson said.

Robertson said there may be some talk during the senate’s meeting about the vitalization project. The vitalization project was the idea of Eastern President David Glassman to get the school to recover from the budget impasse. Robertson said there is some concern on how Workgroup no.7, who oversee looking at the academic programs in the colleges across the campus, will react to the criticism they will get for the recommendations they have made.

Samuel Nusbaum can be reached at 581-2812 or at scnusbaum@eiu.edu.