Members of the Board of Trustees will vote on a $3.2 million proposal to resurface the track at O’Brien Stadium at their meeting

today.

Jarrod Scherle, student representative for the Board of Trustees and student executive vice president, said it has been 10 years since the track was last surfaced, and in that time they have had to patch the track about 200 times.

“Students have made many comments to me about the condition of the track and the shape that it is in,” Scherle said. “The undersurface of the track has been bubbling up and this issue is very important with regard to safety.”

If approved, student tuition will not be affected as the resurfacing comes from local funds and rollover money from Fiscal Year 11, Scherle said.

The Board of Trustees will meet at 1 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

President Bill Perry said the Board of Trustees will be accepting a gift of land from a retired botany professor.

Wesley Whiteside taught at Eastern for almost 30 years as a botany professor and created a living trust to transfer his farmland and more than five acres of arboretum and botanical gardens to Eastern.

“(The trustees) will all be together for the first time with the new and old members, and I think that the gift of land will be a highlight for the members to see that kind of generosity from an emeritus faculty member,” Perry said.

The biological sciences department may use the botanical gardens for research purposes, Scherle said.

“This will be a great addition to the biological sciences department and students will be able to get hands-on experience in the field,” Scherle said.

He also said he is interested to see the new Board dynamic with what each member will bring to the table.

Gov. Pat Quinn made four appointments and two reappointments to the Board of Trustees on Oct. 24 in accordance with an amendment to the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The amendment stated that if appointments were not made by Oct. 25, then members with expired terms would be removed from the Board of Trustees.

Perry said he and Webb met with Dively on Nov. 1 and met with the other members in Chicago on Nov. 4.

They had an orientation regarding committee structure, bylaws and regulations, functions and how the Board of Trustees meetings are generally structured, Perry said.

A follow-up orientation is scheduled from 9-10:45 a.m. today during the Executive Planning Committee meeting.

“They are all enthusiastic and they all bring a set of excellent skills and perspectives to the board,” Perry said. “The board has always acted in the university’s best interests, and I am confident that it will continue.”

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].