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UniProfessionals of Illinois Press Release UPI Sues for Public Access to Closed Door Meetings CHICAGO - Faculty and staff of seven Illinois public universities want Presidents and Chancellors of State Universities to stop meeting behind closed doors. The Presidents and Chancellors have formed the Council of Presidents, which advises the Illinois Board of Higher Education. University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100, IFT/AFT/AFL-CIO filed suit today in Circuit Court of Cook County asking the Presidents and Chancellors to publish their agendas in advance of their COP meetings and to open the meetings to the public. "The Council of Presidents usually meet in closed session the day before the Illinois Board of Higher Education meets," said Mitch Vogel, UPI president and a plaintiff in the suit. "They use taxpayers' money to meet and they talk about public higher education and how state money is to be used for it. The public has a right to know what they're talking about." Illinois' Open Meetings Act states that "public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business." Advisory bodies to state boards such as the IBHE are covered by the Open Meetings Act, the UPI suit states: "The Council of Presidents constitutes an advisory body to the IBHE and is supported by tax revenues. It therefore falls within the definition of a public body in the Open Meetings Act." The UPI suit seeks an injunction prohibiting further meetings of the Council of Presidents until the Council opens the meetings to the public. Named as defendants in the suit as members of the Council of Presidents are James Stukel, president of the University of Illinois; Sylvia Manning, chancellor of the University of Illinois - Chicago; Nancy Cantor, chancellor of the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign; Richard Ringeisen, chancellor of the University of Illinois - Springfield; James E. Walker, president of Southern Illinois University, Walter Wendler, chancellor of Southern Illinois University - Carbondale; David Werner - chancellor of Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville; Victor J. Boshini, president of Illinois State University - Normal; John G. Peters, President of Northern Illinois University, DeKalb; Louis V. Hencken, interim president of Eastern Illinois University, Charleston; Donald Spencer, president of Western Illinois University, Macomb; Elnora Daniel, President of Chicago State University, Chicago; Salme Steinberg, president of Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago; Stuart Fagan, president of Governors' State University, University Park. University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100 is affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. The union is the exclusive bargaining representative for faculty at Chicago State, Northeastern Illinois, Governors' State, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois Universities, as well as non-tenure track faculty at Northern Illinois University and clerical technical workers at University of Illinois - Springfield. The next meeting of the IBHE is set for Dec. 11 at the Swissotel in Chicago. ### November 12, 2001 |
