The Executive Council met at 9 a.m. at 611 Allen Hall. Present were Dr. Donald Zacharias, presiding, Dr. Derek Hodgson, Dr. Melvin Ray, Dr. Billy Ward, Dr. Rodney Foil, Dr. Roy Ruby, Leah Norman, Dr. Mike Couvillion, Dr. Debbie Baker, Larry Templeton, Mike Richardson, Joe Farris, and Charles Guest.

Ms. Norman reported on the previous week's meeting with chief financial officers of the IHL institutions. A proposed funding allocation agreement drafted by the CFOs will be presented at the University Budget Committee meeting on June 11.

Ms. Norman distributed a list of new facilities on campus to be included for purposes of calculating plant operation and maintenance costs in the FY 1999 funding allocation for IHL.

Dr. Ray presented a proposal recommended by the Information Technologies Oversight Committee to implement a fee-based, restricted access dial-up networking system. A new modem pool would be established by Aug. 1 and would be available to students, faculty, staff, and retired employees based on a monthly or semester fee. Departments would have the option of buying the service for individual employees for work-related purposes. The new system would replace the current modem pool, which is seriously overloaded. The Council recommended approval of the proposal.

Ms. Norman presented for concept approval a plan for a 30,000 sq. ft. addition to McArthur Hall to house the departments of Systems and Networks, Telecommunications, Information Systems and User Support, and athletics dressing rooms. The Council approved and forwarded the proposal to the Campus Planning and Development Committee.

Dr. Foil reported that he will present to the Council a draft master plan for development of the Forest Products Lab area. The plan is to be submitted to the Campus Planning and Development Committee.

Dr. Hodgson reported that the campus enrollment in the Summer Developmental Program is 23 students, or about double last year's level.

Dr. Ward reported that commitments to The Campaign for Mississippi State have reached $135 million.

Mr. Templeton reported that the Southeastern Conference this year distributed $58 million in revenue among member institutions. Mississippi State received about $4.7 million.

Mr. Templeton distributed a summary of the NCAA financial aid survey of SEC institutions. Mississippi State's grant-in-aid amount is the second highest in the conference, although the cost of attendance at MSU is sixth highest.