The Board of Trustees received updates on campus issues, aside from numbers on a financial statement, interim President Lou Hencken said.

Bob Augustine, dean of the Graduate School, told the BOT steps for the 2005 North Central Associate site visit are underway for the university’s reaccreditation.

Five subcommittees have been formed to direct the university’s improvement in such areas as student learning and effective teaching. Eastern needs accreditation to make the university aspects official, such as academic degrees.

“It allows us to participate in a comprehensive way in higher education,” Augustine says.

He said the accreditation allows students to transfer credits earned at Eastern to other schools and to become eligible for grant funds.

Areas of improvement were highlighted from the last site visit in 1995.

“I think we’re in a position right now where we can show patterns from the data,” Augustine said. “I think we are aware of the concerns (the study found).”

Over the next five months, Augustine says action will be taken based off the data, which will be compiled from a campus-wide survey to be distributed soon.

“I can not overstate the importance of this study,” Hencken said.

An Alumni Association Report from President David Sluzevich said the organization supplied 11 percent of graduating seniors last year with a cheaper health insurance program.

After seniors graduate and lose their full-time student status, they can no longer be on their parent’s policy, Sluzevich said.

Sluzevich said the alumni has 3,600 members, 1,200 of which are paying. He said recently graduated seniors are given free membership for the first year.

The alumni association has $1.3 million in its account and $250,000 in property assets of June 30, Sluzevich said. The association owns Brainard and Linder houses on Fourth Street. The Linder House houses some of the fine arts students who await construction completion of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

“We don’t charge rent or fees because we feel that’s how we can support Eastern,” Sluzevich said.

He said the no-charge will save Eastern approximately $8,000 over the next four years.

William Hine, the dean of the School of Continuing Education, updated the BOT on the program’s status. Hine told the BOT 50 percent of students enrolled in higher education are now over the age of 23, compared to 22 percent in 1970.

“There’s no better demonstration to a tax payer for them to help participate in a global, life-long pursuit for education,” he said.

The continuing education is looking to move farther north at community colleges in Kankakee or the south suburbs, Hine said.

The other dealt with university substance abuse prevention efforts by David Onestak, director of the Counseling Center, and Eric Davidson, assistant director for health education and promotion at the center.

Davidson said a discrepancy exists in students’ perception of how much their friends drink and how much is actually consumed.

Student Body President Caleb Judy told the BOT that Student Government “is off to a fast start this year.”

Judy said Mike Walsh, speaker of the Student Senate, has implemented several organizational changes that improved the ways senators were trained and supported; Amanda Sartore, student vice president for academic affairs, has began progress toward a Web site that students can access to discover what scholarships they are eligible for and Lisa Flam, vice president for student affairs, organized a Registered Student Organization fair that Judy said “nearly quadrupled the attendance.”

Faculty Senate Chair David Carpenter told the BOT he has worked on bringing academic fraternity Phi Beta Kappa to campus along with passing a resolution so the university can have a process to sponsor tenure-track international faculty.