The University of Illinois' trustees could end the Institute of Aviation next week, but not without a dogfight.

"We hope a lot of people will show up to speak up for the institute," said interim Aviation Director Tom Emanuel. "I will certainly be there."

But interim Chancellor Robert Easter said the matter has been debated, and it's time for a decision.

On Friday afternoon, the UI Board of Trustees added a proposed resolution to close the institute to their previously posted agenda for the Thursday meeting.

"In light of the very close vote of the Senate and the broad support voiced for this proposal by the many bodies consulted as a part of the review of the Institute of Aviation (e.g., Council of Deans, Stewarding Excellence at Illinois Steering Committee, Stewarding Excellence at Illinois Campus Advisory Committee, and Senate and student leadership), it is appropriate and necessary to close the Institute and eliminate the undergraduate academic programs despite the absence of a favorable Senate majority vote," the resolution states.

Emanuel said he was surprised when he learned it was on the agenda, because the faculty senate had appeared to support keeping it open, and "has never had a decisive vote on the issue."

Emanuel argued that the decision was being made at the wrong level.

"I think it's totally inappropriate that the matter is going to trustees; it should be decided on campus," he said.

"This totally flies in the face of shared governance. I don't think it's following due process, either. There won't be any pilot training here inevitably if the institute closes."

Emanuel said supporters will be at the meeting, which begins at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Chicago campus student center, 828 S. Wolcott Ave.

Emanuel argued that UI administrators took several steps to hinder the institute, including:

— Prohibiting faculty searches for replacements.

— Not hiring either a permanent head of the Aviation Human Factors Division or director of the institute for several years.

— Stopping admittance of transfers for the fall semester of 2009.

— Moving faculty to other colleges in 2010.

— And requiring future students to apply to general studies as of this fall.

Following recommendations by Easter and interim Provost Richard Wheeler that came out of Stewarding Excellence restructuring efforts, the resolution said it was not in the university's interests to keep the institute open.

Easter said Friday that he wasn't sure how the trustees' meeting would go.

"The board will have a chance to vote. I have no sense of how the trustees will vote. It's one of things we've been grappling with for a long time," Easter said.

The interim chancellor said the institute's fate has been discussed in public meetings. "In the due course of moving forward, it's the right time to make the decision. We have tried to be diligent about dealing with the issues on our table," he said.

The resolution relies heavily on the Stewarding Excellence report, which questioned the fit of the institute in the Urbana campus' core mission.

"Using the two key academic metrics of quality that the Board of Trustees has determined should be used to evaluate admissions, ACT score and high school rank, the Institute's freshman class has consistently been the lowest of any undergraduate-admitting unit," the resolution said.

The resolution argues that the faculty have in fact been listened to:

"The faculty vote (which included former faculty transferred to new tenure homes in August 2010, the president, vice president/chancellor, provost, and the Director of the Institute) was as follows: two in favor of closing the Institute, four against closure, and three abstentions," the resolution states. "The Educational Policy Committee received and considered public comment and feedback in the form of written submissions and at a public hearing on March 14, 2011. The Educational Policy Committee evaluated this matter at five meetings over the course of the 2011 Spring Semester."

In May, an attempt at faculty/student senate vote on a resolution seeking alternatives to closing the Institute of Aviation failed on a Robert's Rules of Order decision.

A week earlier, the senate narrowly voted down a resolution supporting a proposal to discontinue aviation studies.