UI panel backs keeping Institute of Aviation open
URBANA – In an advisory vote Monday, the faculty/student senate's educational policy committee came out against closing the Institute of Aviation.
The paper ballot had four votes for closing the University of Illinois facility, and 10 against.
Committee Chairman Abbas Aminmansour, who didn't vote, said the panel will create a statement on its decision and try to have it ready for the next full senate meeting March 28.
Last week, the senate held a hearing about the threatened aviation school in which all the speakers were in favor if keeping the institute open.
The meeting came just before the deadline for comments to be given to top administrators.
The campus' restructuring project, Stewarding Excellence, has a website about the possible closing at http://oc.illinois.edu/budget/aviation_project_team_report.
In February, interim Chancellor Robert Easter and interim Provost Richard Wheeler wrote a letter supporting the closure of the institute. The institute, partly subsidized by the university, does not fit with the core mission of the Urbana campus, they wrote.
Aminmansour said his committee's statement will probably not be available before the March 28 meeting.
Entomology Professor Bettina Francis said she would not discuss her vote but said she was concerned about the procedures taken to close the 65-year-old institute.
"My opinion is that process was flawed," she said. "The campus did not follow the procedures established by statute for the university, so the question of closing the unit was clouded by a flawed process."
She said there are at least three camps among the senators: some who feel a closure is absolutely justified, some who have questions about the process, and some who strongly support the mission of the institute.
Francis noted that the committee has only an advisory role in the decision.
There has been a calculated and systematic effort to kill the Institute of Aviation for years through chronic underfunding, staff reductions and denial of needed upgrades. Advocates of the I. of A. have made suggestions to optimize the business model under which it operates, but such initiatives have been largely dismissed with little debate. UIUC benefits from the presence of the I. of A. in a number of ways, some of which are tangible and some intangible. Unfortunately, there are those at UIUC who believe the worthiness of instructional programs are entirely a function of research and grant dollars generated or notoriety of PhD and Post Doc activities. This is a short sighted approach. The I. of A. at UIUC should not be closed.
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