Phillip Howze, president of the Faculty Senate, said it’s been a long journey, but Africana Studies will finally have a major.
The Faculty Senate passed a resolution to approve Africana Studies as a major Tuesday, and also changed the name of the Black American Studies minor to Africana Studies. The Black American Studies program began in 1968.
The only remaining step is for the SIU Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education to approve the programs.
“This too has been a 34-year journey,” Howze said.
Howze said getting this program passed was one of his goals when he became Faculty Senate president.
The senate also passed a resolution to recommend approval for a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies in the College of Liberal Arts.
Lisabeth DiLalla, a professor of behavior social science, said the name change was needed.
“My understanding is that it’s just more current,” DiLalla said. “It’s more in line with what other universities use.”
Also at the meeting, interim Provost Don Rice said the university’s budget must be balanced by June 30. Rice said Carol Henry, who creates the budget, bases estimations on enrollment from the previous year. He said the decrease in enrollment cost the university about $4.7 million, and the veterans’ grant costs the university about $4 million.
“If we had gotten the $4.7 million, we would have had the money to pay for the veterans’ grant, so in a sense we’d be balanced,” Rice said. “That’s not the case.”
Rice said exacerbating the budget problems is that state funds for higher education were supplemented this year by federal stimulus money, which will not last much longer.
“We’re going to have to plan for budget reduction for (fiscal year 2011),” Rice said.
Because of the university’s debt problem, SIU President Glenn Poshard has decided that most expenditures not related to salaries ordinarily paid with state funds or unrestricted local funds will be halted or slowed.
In an email sent to SIUC faculty and staff, Poshard said, as of Nov. 1, Illinois government has missed payments to the university totaling $115 million.
“While we had hoped the payments would materialize over the last four months, the funding shortfall has only grown,” Poshard said. “Until payments are restored, it is necessary to protect salaries of our employees.”
Poshard said Chancellor Sam Goldman and his designee would authorize salary and other required expenditures, except in the School of Medicine, where the dean, provost and the provost’s designee would make those decisions.
Stile Smith can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 259 or sts34@siu.edu
