The Ohio University Board of Trustees met Thursday and Friday to discuss labor updates, the undergraduate experience and OU students’ campus involvement.
Resources, Facilities and Affordability Committee
The OU Board of Trustees met Thursday morning to discuss a possible update to the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, and progress on current capital improvement projects.
Scott Borgemenke, chair of the Resources, Facilities and Affordability Committee, said the Department of Labor proposed changes to the FLSA.
The changes would increase the minimum wage for salaried employees from around $35,000 to about $55,000, Borgemenke said.
He said there are currently 516 salaried employees working at the university, and if all were kept on salary, it would cost the university around $3.9 million annually.
Borgemenke said the Board has to consider the incremental costs of increasing base pay to the new minimum salary versus converting the employee to an hourly salary and paying for overtime.
The committee also heard about the multiple capital improvement projects, including Clippinger renovation phase III, the Zanesville campus’ Herrold Hall nursing lab renovations and the campus roadway improvements for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
Currently, there are 153 capital projects with a combined budget of just over $539 million, according to the facilities project summary.
The Board passed the resolution to allow additional expenditures for the three projects: Clippinger Hall with an increase of $3.25 million, Herrold Hall with an increase of $1.44 million and the campus roadway improvements with an increase of $1.05 million.
Academics and Student Success Committee
The Academic and Student Success Community met Thursday afternoon and discussed the Place Initiative.
A presentation was given by faculty members and OHIO Honors Program students to discuss the initiative.
According to the board’s agenda, the Place Initiative “can transform any undergraduate experience into a uniquely OHIO experience.”
“To define that ... it is the working together of community partners and the university and sharing resources,” Julie Paxton, undergraduate chair, said.
Place-based learning and collaborations would allow students to get more involved in their community and more engaged in their classes and academics. The Place Initiative brings together nonprofits, businesses, governments and OU students to enhance student education and world understanding. Place-based learning takes topics in classes that can seem boring and redundant to students and turns them into something interesting through field trips, guests and reflections.
Paxton called for the strengthening of place-based collaborations as they greatly benefit the university.
“Place-based learning and service-based learning tend to increase recruitment and retention,“ Paxton said. "Students that get involved tend to not drop out."
She also said it benefits the community by providing it access to the university’s resources, shared knowledge, expertise and research.
Audit and Risk Management Committee
The Audit and Risk Management Committee started the Friday meeting with a presentation by the university’s Chief Audit Executive, Marion Candrea.
Candrea gave an update on the FY 2024 annual audit plan. Half of the audits have been completed or are close to completion.
However, she is leaving the university at the end of the month.
“We are routinely assessing the plan, timing across the year and any known barriers that may impede that plan,” Candrea said. “The audit manager and I will be re-evaluating this plan during the transition and departmental leadership … We don't anticipate any major disruption and audit services.”
Candrea also presented a resolution that would approve the audit for FY 2023. The Board unanimously voted to pass it.
Director of Enterprise Risk Management and Insurance Larry Wines and the executive director from the Inter-University Council Risk Management and Insurance Consortium, Tom Angelucci, presented their insurance program renewal.
The renewal will increase the all-risk property program by 33.5% and increase the casualty program by 13.83%.
Angelucci said the rates were increased due to insurance broker’s scrutiny of higher education institutions.
“Higher education had historically low rates that we would stay quiet and appreciate quietly without brokers and insurers,“ Angelucci said. "As the market hardens, they start to look at where (there’s a) rate of 4% or 5% when everybody else is about 7%. Then they start building in increases and blaming the market, whereas actually, they have been underpricing for so long.”
Governance and Compliance Committee / President’s Report
Following the Audit and Risk Management Committee, the Governance and Compliance Committee met to discuss a signature resolution.
The resolution was presented by Committee Chair Lorrie Platt and included an investigation into a recorded grievance with the Board. The resolution passed.
The resolution concluded the Governance and Compliance Committee, which led to the board passing several resolutions on its agenda. These included the capital projects resolution as well as transcript access resolution.
Then the Board proceeded to move to the President’s report given by OU President Lori Stewart Gonzalez.
She talked about her experiences with Welcome Week and the importance of student involvement on campus.
“For those of us who've been on campuses for a while, this was the year it felt like it was supposed to be; last year students just didn't get engaged as much,” Gonzalez said. “I think (due to) COVID-19, (students) pulled back, they weren't quite in or present.”
President Gonzalez mentioned some of her duties as president, including going to Capitol Hill to talk about legislation to further benefit higher education and a bill started by Greg Landsman, a U.S. representative for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District.
“He's looking to move legislation in that we have housing for first-gen students who may be able to use hub money to take off part of their cost of housing, and he has a bill that they're working on … so that we can make sure that we're lined up to do it the right way,” Gonzalez said.
Main Board Meeting
The Board celebrated 100 years of the Marching 110 by hearing a presentation from them on Friday morning. Director of Bands, Richard Suk, discussed the demographics of the band's 232 current members.
Of those members, 210 are from Ohio and 22 are out of state with most of the Ohio members coming from the Columbus metropolitan area. He said the major with the most 110 members is music education and engineering is usually close behind.
Suk also explained the financial aspect of the marching band: how much funding they currently get, and how much it costs them to travel to a bowl game, which can cost between $12,000 to $250,000.
The Board heard from three students who are members of the Marching 110. The students described their experiences with the Marching 110 and how it has affected their time at OU.
“Some of the experiences that I’ve had have been truly life-changing. I’ve met some of the friends that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I’ve learned things such as time management, accountability (and) responsibility among many others that are going to drive me to be a better person in the future,” said Eric Steere, a senior studying strategic communication and trumpet player for the 110.
Peggy Veihweger, board chair, said she wants to continue hearing from more groups like the 110.
“We would like to hear from all student groups because it’s really, really fun to find out what’s going on from their leader and then to hear directly from the students what the experience means to them,” Viehweger said.
Additionally, the Board recognized two outstanding alums. The first was Mark Lowrie who was recently recognized as the 2024 Ohio Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Education Association. The second was Sarah Ladipo, who was a previous student trustee from April 2021 to March 2023. Sarah was in attendance for Friday’s meeting and they recognized her for her outstanding work as a part of the board.
Payton Daugherty, Elizabeth Tagala, Paige Fisher, Allison Patton and Avery St. George contributed to this report.
