The Board of Trustees approved the purchase of COVID-19 testing services that could potentially cost up to $310,000.

The approved purchase includes the initial purchase of 5,000 COVID-19 saliva tests that cost $20 each and a $5,000 setup fee.

The rationale for the purchase was the need to monitor and control the spread of the COVID-19 virus. According to the action item for the purchase this service is less expensive than other alternatives that have been identified.

The recommended vendor for the purchase is the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.

The university may opt to extend the agreement depending on the progress of a vaccination for COVID-19.

The Board also approved a finalized version of the fiscal year 2021 budget. The total budget will be $147,120,200.

Appropriated and income funds the budget is balanced, in non-appropriated funds the university is balanced with help from pulling funds from the university’s reserves. Both are balanced with funds the university had on hand.

The university also approved the renaming of the student art gallery which will now be named the Glenn Hild Student Art Gallery.

Hild was a faculty member and administrator at Eastern from 1980 to 2016 and died in 2018.

The Board also heard the first reading of a proposed change to board regulation IV.J.2.b.

The current section reads:

“State appropriations may be used to support the intercollegiate athletics program but no more than a half percent (1.5%) of the University annual state appropriation may be expended for intercollegiate athletics unless approved by the Board.”

If approved “but no more than a half percent (1.5%) of the University annual state appropriation may be expended for intercollegiate athletics unless approved by the Board” would be deleted from the section.

A report given on the degrees given out during the fiscal year 2020 showed that 1,893 degrees were awarded to students with the bulk being 1,170 bachelor’s degrees and 588 master’s degrees.

Majors with the largest number of bachelor’s degree recipients included general studies, psychology, exercise science, human services program administration and biological sciences.

Of the master’s degrees awarded the programs with the most graduates were technology, educational leadership, art, kinesiology and sports studies and counseling.

In FY 2020, minorities received 23 percent of awarded degrees.

No one spoke for public comment.

The next Board meeting will be Jan. 22, 2021.

Corryn Brock and Tanner DeVore can be reached at 581-2812 or at dennewsdesk@gmail.com.