Eastern’s Legislative Action Team tells legislators the, “Eastern story,” interim president Lou Hencken said; one issue to be discussed at the Council on University Planning and Budget meeting Friday.

The council, an advisory group to the president and vice presidents, will likely hear a report from the Action Team. Hencken said he will also deliver a report on the legislative actions impact on university budgets.

The Legislative Action Team and the Student Action Team, composed of student representatives mostly in the Student Government, lobbied in Springfield Wednesday, he said. Yesterday’s visit was the first for the Legislative Action Team, created as a CUPB subcommittee last December.

“I just want the whole campus to know what a great job they did,” Hencken said. “There’s an awful lot of uncertainty going on in Springfield right now because there’s an awful lot of new (legislators).”

Eastern is watching for the progression of state congressional bills, in particular, on income funds, line-item budgeting and two relating to tuition, he said.

The lobbying trip was a time to inform legislators about the positive aspects of Eastern, not just request money from the state budget, said Linda Coffey in the accounting department. She is a member of the Legislative Action Team.

“(The Action Team) tells legislators this is what we like about the school…it wasn’t that we were going in and saying don’t cut us and give us money,” she said.

Hencken said an action plan to assist the president will also be discussed.

The plan will be to develop ways for the university to respond quickly, especially in responding to requests from legislators.

The CUPB meets at 3 p.m. Friday in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union