The Board of Regents is scheduled to hold a telephone meeting Tuesday in Cedar Falls, and although it is expected to be brief, it will address issues that may affect ISU students.

Among other items included in the agenda, approval of 2008-09 tuition and fees is expected to be voted on during the meeting.

The proposed tuition increase is expected to raise the general undergraduate tuition by 3.2 percent. The percentage is projected from an evaluation by the Higher Education Price Index’s inflationary percentage range.

Although still an increase, if the proposal passes it would be a huge gain for students, said Brian Phillips, Government of the Student Body president and senior in political science.

“It will be the lowest increase in 25 years for students,” Phillips said. He also expects the vote for the proposed increase to pass without any provisions. “Based on their actions in the past, [revising the proposal] is incredibly unlikely.”

The approval also includes an increase in addition to the 3.2 percent increase. The increase will affect upper-division (juniors and seniors) engineering students by adding $500 to tuition.

The board will also be updated by President Pro Tem David Miles on the search for the Board of Regents’ new executive director.

Student leaders at Iowa State, as well as UNI and Iowa, are affected by the final decision for the director, as they would be in frequent contact with him or her.

Another issue to be voted on during the meeting, is an easement for a new transmission line in Ames to improve the level of electric service to the city of Ames, including the university. According to the Board of Regents agenda, the current easement will be voided once construction for the line is completed.

Among the issues that weren’t included on the agenda posted on the Board of Regents Web site, is the retirement of Regents President Michael Gartner.

In an e-mail he sent out to board members and meeting attendees, Gartner wrote that at the end of the meeting he intends to propose the election of a new president, effective Jan. 1.

In his reasoning for the timing of his retirement, Gartner wrote he wanted there to be a new president before the regents chose a new executive director, because a director should come into the job with the “clear understanding of who the president will be for the next two years.”

Among other issues voted on during the meeting, are a progress report on Statewide System for Blind and Visually Impaired, a legislative update, and various items on the consent agenda.