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Ryan Powers, a freshman studying journalism, marches in the Student Union rally.

Board presents “Transforming Ohio” plan, will vote on 2015 budget in June

The Board of Trustees, met in Athens on Thursday and will vote on its agenda’s resolutions Friday. The board, Ohio University’s governing body, spent Thursday in individual committee meetings to further dissect the agenda’s topics.

About 30 members of OU’s Student Union walked to the hall where the board had previously met during the day after protesting on College Green.

“Hours are being cut and students are being forced to quit second university jobs, which are funding their lives,” said Megan Marzec, a junior studying studio art. “It’s a really huge problem for students.”

The university clarified that the residential assistants’ positions are a 20-hour job. The university caps the amount of hours students can work on campus at 20 hours. Though RAs can’t hold a second campus job, they can find one off campus.

Academics and Resources Joint Committee:

The board presented its “Transforming OHIO” plan — the university’s new term to describe its large projects, including the Capital Improvement Plan (planned construction) and the Total Compensation Plan, which is an effort to make all OU salaries more comparable to positions in other Ohio industries.

“What we’ve done here is we’ve shown you a snapshot of the kinds of planning that we’re doing that move us forward,” said Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit. “It’s not all the planning, you’ll continue to see more of that, but here are snapshots of the kinds of things we’re doing that we believe will move us forward and transform Ohio University.”

Usually by this time, the board has voted on its budget for the next fiscal year. However, the board will decide its budget for fiscal year 2015 at its June meeting.

The board also chose to vote on tuition changes at the June meeting. It discussed the following scenarios Thursday:

  • No increase, which would give OU $1.26 million to invest in programs toward academic and college needs

  • A 1 percent increase, which would leave $2.56 million to invest

  • A 1.5 percent increase, which would leave OU with $3.23 million to invest

The state cap is 2 percent.

“Am I arguing for a tuition increase at this point? No, I am not arguing for a tuition increase at this point,” said Stephen Golding, vice president for finance and administration. “What I am promising to start to do is to show you here is another way that this budget commits to institutional priorities: salary, debt service per capital, financial aid. That’s what we solve for in the first part of this budget.”

OU’s undergraduate enrollment numbers are up 2.7 percent, graduate enrollment is up 1.3 percent, and regional campuses enrollment collectively increased 28.3 percent from 2006 to 2012, but Golding said growing the student population would not solve the university’s funding problems.

“As we said in the past, we’re not going to grow our way into financial equilibrium. We really have to manage our way into financial equilibrium,” Golding said.

Resources Committee

Mulberry Street, the road that connects Richland Avenue to Park Place, will be closed beginning Friday morning for emergency utility tunnel repairs.

It may have to remain closed indefinitely if extensive repairs are needed. Costs could be as much as $2 million from university reserves, Golding said.

OU is also considering closing Park Place to make the street more pedestrian-friendly. The board hopes the proposed plan will create a gathering place for students, and address the safety and needs of pedestrians. A study will be conducted by the university and city of Athens over the next year to better understand the available improvement options.

Academics Commitee

Jefferson Hall will soon close for two years and won’t be a dining hall when it reopens.

The building will be “offline” from spring 2016 until fall 2018, Peter Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing told the Board of Trustees’ academics committee.

Student indebtedness was also discussed with the board. A committee consisting of provosts and deans analyzed the topic.

OU students have an average of about $27,000 in debt, while the state average is about $29,000, said Dennis Irwin, Russ College dean.

There was a dramatic increase in student debt at OU from 2007 to 2012, likely because of the recession, according to the committee’s report.

“Although total cost of attendance and the tuition and fee bill do not seem to be highly

correlated to student debt over the 2007-2012, it would be premature to conclude that cost will never be correlated to debt, since many of the effects of the recent recession are likely to be transitory,” according to the report.

The Honors Tutorial College wants to focus on recruiting more diverse students and increasing graduates’ involvement in alumni activities, said Jeremy Webster, HTC dean.

The Graduate College has seen an increase in enrollment numbers, andthe college receives about 7,000 applications per year, said Joseph Shields, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College.

“The growth we’re seeing … is almost entirely in the online programs,” Shields said.

There are multiple new technologies available for OU faculty and students, including Blackboard updates, said Duane Starkey, interim chief information officer.

The Office for Institutional Equity, which oversees equal employment and education opportunities, disabilities, and sexual misconduct, has seen a decrease in the number of complaints that it has received in nearly every category.

For the 2013 fiscal year, 87 harassment or discrimination complaints were received. Only 46 were received for the 2014 fiscal year as of Feb. 25.

“We need to respond to the immediate concerns that come up,” said Dianne Bouvier, interim executive director for the Office of Institutional Equity. “We want to incorporate disability into every aspect of campus.”

OU will also soon operate with a “living/learning” concept which adds additional working areas in new residence halls and across campus.

“We want to make sure that in all of these new processes that we are capitalizing on the strengths that we already have,” said Jenny Hall-Jones, dean of students.

The University Completion Plan and Faculty Compensation Plan were also on the agenda, but the compensation plan was pushed back for discussion at Friday’s meeting, and the Completion Plan remained on the consent agenda.

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