HR0609 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0609 LRB094 14043 HSS 48934 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The University of Illinois was founded in 1867 as a land grant university in the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The University of Illinois, one of the nation's great research universities, known for its distinguished faculty, its outstanding resources, and the breadth of its academic programs, is deeply committed to educating its large, diverse student body and to engaging in critical societal and scientific issues; and

WHEREAS, The University of Illinois is a voluntary member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association whose by-laws guarantee institutional autonomy; and

WHEREAS, The National Collegiate Athletic Association has issued a hostile and abusive edict that directly contradicts a 1995 finding by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights; and

WHEREAS, The National Collegiate Athletic Association used inflammatory rhetoric that retards meaningful discussion and debate on a consensus process that has been in progress by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees since June 17, 2004; and

WHEREAS, The National Collegiate Athletic Association edict is a giant step backwards in the debate and has caused the loss of common ground to armies of divisiveness; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the National Collegiate Athletic Association be denied the ability to compromise the sovereignty of the State of Illinois and its institutions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and to the National Collegiate Athletic Association as an expression of our utmost resolve and support of institutional autonomy and a rebuke of the violation of institutional autonomy by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.