The next Board of Trustees will meet Aug. 27 at OU’s Dublin campus.
Ohio University’s Board of Trustees will present OU’s revised budget for the 2016 fiscal year at its meeting Thursday.
The revised budget accommodates for the tuition freeze and increased state funding for OU mandated in Ohio’s biennial state budget.
The board passed OU’s FY16 budget at its meeting in June, but the budget was recently revised after the passage of the state budget on June 30.
The university will also implement a 2 percent raise pool for the university’s faculty and staff due to the FY16 budget.
At the meeting, Dean of Students and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Jenny Hall-Jones will give an update on the university’s code of conduct cases and offenses over the last four years.
According to the Board of Trustees agenda, the total number of cases decreased from the 2013-14 year, but the number of cases involving alcohol and other drugs doubled since 2011.
Hall-Jones will also give an update on sexual misconduct at the university, including data of incidents from the Ohio University Police Department and the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility.
OUPD reported 18 criminal sex offenses and faculty and staff had six complaints regarding sexual harassment in the 2014-15 year, according to the data. Also, 14 students reported sexual harassment by hostile environment and five students reported non-consensual sexual intercourse.
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers will also be giving a presentation about OUPD at Thursday’s meeting. Arrests by OUPD were down in the 2015 fiscal year with 863 total arrests, according to data in the agenda.
The board will vote on approving several construction project budgets and budget amendments at Thursday’s meeting.
A resolution to approve an additional $1.75 million for the design phase of OU’s permanent campus boiler project will be up for a vote at the meeting. The board will also vote on approving a new total budget of $15 million for the project, which will replace the university’s coal boilers with permanent ones.
The board will also decide whether or not to approve $150,000 for a project that would “enhance the appearance” of the new South Green residence halls and improve pedestrian safety.
Other projects up for a vote include a College Green Upgrade budget amendment and scope revision. The College of Communication Phase II construction and Budget Amendment II are also up for a vote.
The Board will also vote to alter the name of the Barbara Geralds Schoonover Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact — a newly-formed institute within the Scripps College of Communication.
OU donor Barbara Geralds recently asked the university to remove her ‘Schoonover’ name from the institute. Geralds is the former wife of Steven Schoonover, a top OU donor and Ohio University Foundation trustee, and wishes to use her preferred name instead, according to a previous Post report.
This will be the first Board of Trustees meeting for Secretary David Moore, a professor in the Patton College of Education. Moore replaced Peter Mather as Board of Trustees secretary this summer.
A live stream of the meetings can be found on OU’s website.
@megankhenry
