Full Text of SB1937 101st General Assembly
SB1937eng 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Higher Education Veterans Service Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Section 15 as follows: | 6 | | (110 ILCS 49/15)
| 7 | | Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best | 8 | | efforts.
| 9 | | (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60 | 10 | | days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of | 11 | | the services and programs that are provided for veterans, | 12 | | active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of | 13 | | their respective campuses. This survey shall enumerate and | 14 | | fully describe the service or program that is available, the | 15 | | number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service | 16 | | or program, an estimated range for potential use within a | 17 | | 5-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the | 18 | | service or program, and how its administrators may be | 19 | | contacted. The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in | 20 | | which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the | 21 | | program's services. This survey must be made available to all | 22 | | veterans matriculating at the college or university in the form | 23 | | of an orientation-related guidebook. |
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| 1 | | Each public college and university shall make the survey | 2 | | available on the homepage of all campus Internet links as soon | 3 | | as practical after the completion of the survey. As soon as | 4 | | possible after the completion of the survey, each public | 5 | | college and university shall provide a copy of its survey to | 6 | | the following: | 7 | | (1) the Board of Higher Education; | 8 | | (2) the Department of Veterans' Affairs; | 9 | | (3) the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and | 10 | | the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of | 11 | | Representatives; and | 12 | | (4) the Governor. | 13 | | (b) Each public college and university shall, at its | 14 | | discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective | 15 | | date of this Act, an existing employee or (ii) hire a new | 16 | | employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military | 17 | | Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or | 18 | | university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student | 19 | | headcount above 1,000 students. Each public college and | 20 | | university must use its best efforts to hire a veteran of the | 21 | | United States armed forces as the Coordinator of Veterans and | 22 | | Military Personnel Student Services. | 23 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 24 | | Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs of | 25 | | student veterans and military personnel and their families and | 26 | | shall serve as an advocate before the administration of the |
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| 1 | | college or university for the needs of student veterans. The | 2 | | college or university shall enable the Coordinator of Veterans | 3 | | and Military Personnel Student Services to communicate | 4 | | directly with the senior executive administration of the | 5 | | college or university periodically. The college or university | 6 | | shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the | 7 | | organizational management structure of its institution. | 8 | | In addition to any responsibilities the college or | 9 | | university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and Military | 10 | | Personnel Student Services shall make its best efforts to | 11 | | create a centralized source for student veterans and military | 12 | | personnel to learn how to receive all benefit programs and | 13 | | services for which they are eligible. The Coordinator of | 14 | | Veterans and Military Personnel Student Services must also | 15 | | create and maintain a contact list of all veterans attending | 16 | | the public college or university. | 17 | | Each college and university campus that is required to have | 18 | | a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 19 | | Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the | 20 | | office location, phone number, and Internet access to the | 21 | | Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 22 | | Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he | 23 | | or she can assist student veterans. The advertisement shall | 24 | | include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following: | 25 | | (1) advertisements on each campus' Internet home page; | 26 | | and |
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| 1 | | (2) any promotional mailings for student application. | 2 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 3 | | Services may communicate with veterans of the public college or | 4 | | university via email or other electronic means. | 5 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 6 | | Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the | 7 | | promotion of programs and services that are available. | 8 | | (c) Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection (a) | 9 | | of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the | 10 | | Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review of | 11 | | the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may | 12 | | operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet | 13 | | website for the college or university. Upon receipt of all of | 14 | | the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military | 15 | | affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the | 16 | | surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website. Following | 17 | | its review of the surveys, the Office of the Governor shall | 18 | | submit an evaluation report to each college and university | 19 | | offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of student | 20 | | veteran-related policies and programs. | 21 | | (d) The Board of Higher Education and the Department of | 22 | | Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to | 23 | | highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial | 24 | | to veterans and active duty military personnel. The report | 25 | | shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with any | 26 | | program recommendations. |
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| 1 | | (e) Each college and university campus that is required to | 2 | | have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student | 3 | | Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its | 4 | | best efforts to create academic and social programs and | 5 | | services for veterans and active duty military personnel that | 6 | | will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance | 7 | | and success. | 8 | | Each public college and university shall make its best | 9 | | efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can | 10 | | be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans | 11 | | and currently-deployed military, including a determination of | 12 | | whether and to what extent the public colleges and universities | 13 | | can share existing technologies to improve the online curricula | 14 | | of peer institutions, provided such efforts are both | 15 | | practically and economically feasible.
| 16 | | (Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)
| 17 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 18 | | becoming law.
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