Faculty at Illinois’ public universities will have a new voice in the state issues of higher education, and Eastern’s Faculty Senate has endorsed the proposal.

Tuesday the Faculty Senate unanimously passed a motion to include Eastern’s Faculty Senate in the Council of Illinois University Senates, which is comprised of faculty senate chairs from the 12 public universities.

The new council’s ultimate goal will be to educate the Illinois Board of Higher Education, respective Board of Trustees and the General Assembly on faculty issues.

“The group decided this would be a good idea with the way things have gone in the past couple of years,” Vice Chair Bud Fischer said. “Lobbying will take place both on campus and in the bigger picture.”

The motion is a direct result of Fischer’s recent attendance to a meeting of state-wide senate chairs at Illinois State University last week where the formation of the council was decided.

Fischer said some of the issues that were discussed at the meeting included the state funding of private universities, increased use of part-time faculty, distance education, lack of student preparation for college, administrative hiring practices and faculty representation on the Board of Trustees.

The group has decided to first address the issues of state funding of private schools and faculty representation on the Board of Trustees.

The group will meet twice a year and conduct most of its communication through e-mail. A constitution and bylaws are currently being created, and the structure of the council will not involve a chair.

“We will work in ad-hoc committees that will take on separate issues and see them through to the end,” Fischer said.

At this time, Illinois State University has agreed to take on most of the required funding, Fischer said.

In other business, the senate nominated senate members Doug Brandt, physics professor, and Reed Benedict, sociology-anthropology professor, for positions on the Achievement and Contribution Awards Selection Committee.

Fischer, who was a member of the committee last year, said the committee is responsible for selecting a faculty member for an award in the areas of teaching, research, service and overall.

The faculty members are nominated by other faculty members for the award.

Also, the Senate is requesting a faculty volunteer for the the search committee for a WEIU station manager. The position is temporarily being filled by Jill Nilsen, interim vice president of external relations.