Trustees OK budget and hear more on semester switch
By Nick Claussen
June 30, 2008
The Ohio University Board of Trustees approved a new budget, learned that plans for a new health center are on hold, heard about the proposal to switch to semesters, and discussed a wide range of other issues at their meetings Thursday and Friday in Athens.
The full board meeting was held Friday, while the committee meetings took place Thursday afternoon.
The proposal for the new health center has been put on hold because plans for the facility showed the cost would be too high, the Trustees learned at a committee meeting Thursday.
The Trustees had previously approved spending more than $18 million on a new health center, but cost estimates for the center came in at between $26 million and $30 million.
OU President Roderick McDavis told the Trustees that because the cost is so high, the university is now looking at instead renovating both Hudson Health Center and Parks Hall on the West Green.
“We are looking at all of our options,” McDavis said during a press conference on Friday. The university had considered two sites for the proposed health center, in the open area across Richland Avenue from Peden Stadium (an area now used for tailgating before football games) and the open area north of the OU varsity soccer field and adjacent to O’Bleness Memorial Hospital property (this land is currently used for javelin throwers and other track team activities).
The land near O’Bleness was the preferred spot for the proposed health center, but the cost was too high to build the project as it was planned.
McDavis said the project would have involved a partnership between health services at OU (currently based in Hudson Health Center), University Medical Services (now based in Parks Hall) and O’Bleness Memorial Hospital. These three entities still hope to work together, even if a new health center is not built, McDavis said.
The university may still consider building a new health center, but it is also considering renovating the two existing buildings, McDavis said.
A 2007 study of Hudson Health Center recommended that the university replace it with a new building.
Kent Smith, vice president for student affairs, told the Trustees at a February meeting that Hudson Health Center currently has inadequate funding and staffing, poor access on weekends and inefficient facilities. The building opened in 1949 as a residence hall and became the health center in 1962.
THE TRUSTEES ALSO APPROVED a $657.8 million budget on Friday. The budget includes funding for Vision Ohio priorities, a 3 percent salary increase for faculty and staff (see related story) and other items.
One problem area in the budget is in intercollegiate athletics, which is planning for a $1.8 million budget deficit in the 2009 fiscal year, which begins on July 1.
Rebecca Skillings, director of budget planning and analysis, told a Trustees committee meeting Thursday that new Athletics Director Jim Schaus has been charged with finding ways to increase revenue and decrease costs in the department in order to eliminate this deficit. The ways to increase revenue, she said, may including holding more fundraising programs and activities, increasing advancement/development activities, and scheduling more home contests in order to bring in more revenue and decrease travel costs.
THE PROPOSED SWITCH to a semester calendar system was also discussed on Thursday and Friday, though the Trustees stressed that no final decision has been made.
McDavis and Kathy Krendl, executive vice president and provost, are both recommending that the university switch to a semester system. The new University System of Ohio plan also recommends that all public institutions in Ohio move to a semester system, and only four public universities in the state remain on quarters.
Krendl said that while undergraduate students support quarters and the faculty are split, the graduate students, staff, administration and deans all support moving to semesters. (An official for the union that represents many OU workers was quoted in another local newspaper last week as opposing a switch to semesters.)
McDavis, Krendl and the deans all believe that the move to semesters is in OU’s best interests, according to Krendl. She said the cost to switch to semesters has not yet been determined, but will be studied this summer.
Some universities have spent between $250,000 and $500,000 on the transition, while the University of Cincinnati has estimated that it may cost up to $13 million to make the change, she said. The $13 million includes funding for a new student information system, she added.
Krendl said that while she does not yet know the expense, she does not think the transition can be completed for $500,000 or less. At the same time, she does not think it will cost up to $13 million.
She cited concerns about faculty workloads, special advising for students, and the need to communicate to students that the switch will not make it harder for them to complete their degree programs in time. She did not mention any concerns about enrollment being affected by the switch.
Student Trustee Tracy Kelly did question whether the transition would hurt enrollment, which would then also impact the university financially. She also pointed out that the most recent study on OU switching to semesters pointed out that it could cost more than $21 million. This cost includes funding lost due to a drop in enrollment, according to the study.
Kelly also asked how a change to semesters would impact retired professors who currently teach one quarter per year and receive a salary for that, and asked about other potential impacts.
“It is important that we enter this with our eyes wide open,” Kelly said.
McDavis said after the meeting that he is confident the switch will not hurt enrollment. OU would be making the switch at a time when all public universities in Ohio would either be on semesters already or making the switch, so the calendar system likely would not be an issue for them, he said. The university will also exert strong efforts to make sure the switch does not have any negative impacts on students, he said.
Krendl said at a Thursday meeting that a committee will be put together this fall to discuss the possible transition. The administration will also come back with a recommendation for the Trustees later in the year, possible at the October meeting. The Trustees could vote on the switch at that meeting, she said.
AMONG THE OTHER business at the meeting, the Trustees:
• Approved spending more than $13 million on renovations to Shively Hall. The improvements will enhance the dining and residential areas of the building. The university is also planning major improvements to Jefferson Hall, which is also used as a dining and residential hall.
• Learned that 74 OU students received nationally competitive awards this year. This is the highest amount by far of any public university in Ohio, and is something to be proud of, McDavis said.
• Discussed the recent $91.8 million gift from the Russ family and other large donations. McDavis said the gifts will allow the Russ College of Engineering and the Scripps College of Communication to be among the best in the country. Howard Lipman, vice president for university advancement, told the Trustees at a Thursday meeting that during the 2008 fiscal year, the university received 13 donations that ranged between $100,000 and $500,000; four donations that ranged between $500,000 and $1 million; and six donations of more than $1 million. The university now has a goal to raise more than $20 million on donations next year (this figure does not include the Russ gift) and eventually hopes to raise $30 million each year, Lipman said.
• Heard a report about the regional campuses and how they can become more involved with the Athens campus. Krendl said at a Thursday meeting that OU officials were concerned at one time that the University System of Ohio plan would change OU’s relationship with its regional campuses. The university has a plan to strengthen the regional campuses, and increase the number of students at them, she said. The university also hopes to increase the number of students who transfer from the regional campuses to the Athens campus, according to Krendl.
Student Trustee Kelly, who began her college career at a regional campus, said that it was difficult for her to make the switch to the Athens campus. Kelly added that she welcomes whatever the university does to improve how the Athens campus works with the regional campuses.
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