Gov. Pat Quinn announced Tuesday night that he plans to pick five new members to be added to the University’s Board of Trustees by Friday. The announcement caused a mixed reaction among Urbana-Champaign Senate members because of the possibility of Quinn electing a board without a faculty voice.

“It is good news to hear that they’re moving to fill the trustee positions in a timely matter, there’s a lot to be done,” said Bobby Gregg, U-C Senate member. “Hopefully, he has kept our recommendation in mind.”

The recommendation, sent to the governor’s office Aug. 17, includes provisions for increased faculty involvement in the nomination process for new Board of Trustees members. However, many are unsure if any of these five nominations are faculty-related.

“I do hope that they will include members with a knowledge and understanding of the higher education environment,” said Senate Executive Committee chair Joyce Tolliver.

However, some members of the senate said they question whether Gov. Quinn heeded their recommendation.

“To my knowledge, the governor has not responded to the Aug. 17 resolution,” said Mark Roszkowski, U-C Senate member from the College of Business.

“He has indicated that he has already selected people, meaning that he has ignored this.”

He added that if the governor’s selections do not include faculty, the senate will have to wait until another vacancy occurs in order to have faculty presence on the board.

If the governor’s selections do not include faculty members, the senate also plans to send a small delegation of members to discuss the issue with the governor.

Legislation that may remove the remaining two board members is pending.

“The lack of faculty insight on the Board is what got us into this problem for starters,” Roszkowski said.

“Representation is the only thing that will restore faculty governance at the University.”