The Board of Trustees, which comes to Guilford three times per year, visited campus Feb. 20 – 21.
The Board is the executive council that has the final say in most of the college’s activities, including managing the goals, policies, and affairs of the college.
“They basically hear the state of the college, … see (what) progress has been made since the last meeting, and then … make plans for things to take place until the next time,” senior Floyd McKissick, president of the Community Senate and a member of the Board, said.
One of the Board’s functions is to approve requests for tenure by faculty members. These decisions have been made and will be made public in coming weeks.
The Board decided to renew the college’s one-year contract with Sodexho, the company that provides the college’s dining services. They also heard a proposal from New Garden Friends School (NGFS) regarding construction of a new academic building on college property. The two institutions would share the building, with NGFS rais-ing the funds for the facility.
The biggest item on the agenda for this meeting was the college’s annual budget. A proposed draft of the budget included a 6.5 percent tuition increase for traditional college students and was brought before the student body by President Kent Chabotar on Jan. 14.
The increase in the budget reflects a need to provide competitive pay for faculty, maintain college facilities, and continue to shrink the college’s deficit.
Because annual giving is down, fewer avenues of income are available to the college. Currently, less than 30 percent of alumni donate to the college.
“Any drop in annual giving is noticeable (at a small college),” said Ty Buckner, Director of College Relations.
The final version of the budget went before the Board this weekend, and was approved, including the controversial tuition increase.
The proposed budget was based on estimations of enrollment of 1,137 traditional students, 1,000 CCE students, and 85 Early College students. Any variation from these figures will affect the actual budget.
It’s been four months since Sept. 17 – 20, the last en masse visit by the Board members, and it will be four months until they return in June. By that time, current seniors will have graduated and few students will be around to offer their opinions to the Board. This is why many students protested outside of Founders Hall during Board meetings Jan. 20.
“Welcome Board of Trustees. We hope you can hear us,” read the hand-lettered sign over the walkway leading into the cafeteria. [For more information on student protests, see article on Page 3].
Board members are taking steps to ensure that student voices are heard.
“It was discussed during (a) meeting … that maybe five or six trustees could set some time aside where students could come in to talk to us, and it would be a different group of trustees each meeting,” Curt Hege, chair of the Board of Trustees, said. “I thought that was a great idea.”
The next Board meetings will be June 4 – 5, followed by their meeting during the fall semester Oct. 8 – 9.