With 1-year the Sept. 11 terrorism attack anniversary just around the corner, faculty and administrators are working on ways to show respect to one of the nation’s biggest tragedies.

That’s just one of the topics Faculty Senate discussed this summer, and not the only topic on the agenda for the representatives’ first meeting today.

Interim President Lou Hencken called upon the Faculty Senate during its June meeting to address the Sept. 11 issue, encouraging discussion of the event during classes this fall.

Senate Chair Ann Zahlan agreed saying, “It is important to provide a structured environment to allow our students to express their feelings and concerns.”

That’s exactly what students did last semester, with encouragement from their instructors, Senate member Luis Clay Mendez, foreign language professor, told senators in attendance.

Mendez said that that in-class discussion may not be enough.

“We should not only provide the opportunity to discuss the Sept. 11 events in our classes this fall, but also organize speakers and/or events in remembrance of the Trade Center bombings,” he said at the summer meeting.

So far the group has not developed a memorial to the event, but Mendez; Bud Fischer, associate biology professor, and James Tidwell, journalism professor, have volunteered to serve on a Senate subcommittee to organize the event.

In other business this summer, Hencken discussed some campus improvement projects, touching base on the new Doudna Fine Arts Center and discussing a plan to add parking around the area.

“A parking garage continues to be discussed as a viable alternative to our parking-space needs,” he said at the summer meeting.

Hencken said Monday he had looked at parking garages on Illinois State University’s campus while visiting, thought they looked nice and were a possible solution to the parking woes that are “always a real concern on any college campus.”

An exact location for the garages has not been decided, but Hencken said somewhere around the new fine arts building would be a good choice, especially west of Taylor Hall where a parking lot already exists, keeping the university from having to purchase extra land.

Plans are in the early stages, and it has not been decided if the garages will be built.

“We just need to throw some ideas around to receive feedback,” Hencken said.

At the Senate’s meeting today, several Senate subcommittees will give reports on business from last semester, and possibly some new business, to refresh Senate members after a summer away from some issues.

Among the subcommittees is the Sept. 11 commemoration committee, the student-faculty relations committee, the faculty-staff relations committee and the faculty development steering committing, which was formed last year to help provide incoming faculty with help adjusting to a new environment.

The committee pushed for an instructor-mentor program, which would give incoming faculty someone to ask for help, and a faculty development office where faculty could go to discover Eastern’s vast facilities.The office and the mentor program still are being discussed.