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U of I Board Votes to End Aviation Program
CHICAGO (AP) -- The University of Illinois will end its aviation program.

University trustees approved a resolution Thursday to close the program based at its Urbana-Champaign campus and do away with the bachelor's degree it offers.

Interim Chancellor Robert Easter oversees the campus. He says closing the program would save about $750,000 a year and the program's enrollment has dropped more than 50 percent since 2002.

But graduates of the Institute of Aviation and other opponents of the proposal said the university started targeting the program years ago by leaving faculty positions open and in other moves. They say the demand for pilots will only increase and the end of the institute leaves a gap.

University officials say they're talking to other schools to keep parts of the program alive in some form.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
07 21 11 by Newsroom
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