Eight Faculty Senate chairs did not talk to their senate’s members Friday.

Instead, they met with each other at Eastern to discuss state governance and budget issues.

The Council of Illinois University Senates took advisory positions on issues taken back to individual university senates, including one to make the council more official, said Eastern’s senate chair Anne Zahlan.

A steering committee has been formed to help formulate bylaws and other planning on top of the council’s existing constitution. The council also recommended a faculty member serve on the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The member would be chosen from the board’s Faculty Advisory Committee.

The representative should be from one of the public universities, even though the advisory council includes members from community colleges and private institutions, Zahlan said.

The council of senates also is concerned about spending in public vs. private universities, health care and fifth year Monetary Award Program grants.

The senate chairs took a position against an income bill currently in the Illinois legislature.

The bill deals with taking tuition funds back to Springfield, one situation the university would have trouble coping with, interim President Lou Hencken said.

“The funds that come from student tuition should be maintained at the individual institutions,” Zahlan said.

Hencken told the council Eastern could lose a combined $4.1 million from this year’s fiscal budget. Last month, Gov. Rod Blagojevich requested state public universities set aside 8 percent of their operating budgets, totaling $113 million across higher education schools and agencies.

Eastern’s $4.1 million comes from 2 percent already in reserve on top of 15 areas to possibly lose funds in the $84 million budget.

The governor asked monies simply be set aside until the state requests them, but $475,000 of equipment costs would be the first to go.

The list of cuts, sent to the Bureau of the Budget, included a set of implications for putting the funds in reserve.

The only way Eastern is not going to feel a lot of hurt is if only a 2 percent cut is requested, something that will not likely happen, Hencken said.

Other universities share the worry of more than 2 percent.

“I’ve talked to the presidents of the other institutions in the last month more than I have in the last 36 years,” he said. “You cannot cut 8 percent out of your budget without having some harm.” Hencken and Blair Lord, vice president for academic affairs, also talked to chairs about more legislation in Springfield, one to keep four years of tuition at a freshman rate.

“That’s the one we can live with the easiest,” Hencken said. The bill does not specify how much increase can be set at the freshman rate.

Western Illinois University already offers freshman such a tuition package.

“It has been one of our major recruiting tools and it’s been fantastic,” said Win Phippen, the university’s senate vice-chair.

The council of senates meets once a semester.