Graphic by Nethan Crew, Managing editor of content. By Kendall Miller, Student trustee
The most recent Board of Trustees meeting was held on February 13. The most notable items discussed were tuition and fees, the presidential search, minors and concentration cuts, and the cutting of the swim and tennis teams.
The board voted not to increase tuition rates across the board for the upcoming fall, but to increase certain academic fees and miscellaneous fees instead. The fees affecting the most students would be the theater major fee, private lesson fee (for theater and music), and the lab fee. Those three fees are to help cover the extra cost that those classes and departments require.
The board also gave an update on the presidential search. The search firm and search committee will have a few candidates narrowed down by May, and the final decision will be made at a special called Board of Trustees meeting on May 22nd. The new president will begin on June 1st.
The board also voted to cut certain minors and concentrations, a list of which was emailed to students on Thursday, February 12. Much thought went into the cutting of these minors and concentrations; the University Curriculum and Standards committee met for 2 long days and a team did a blind review of all minors and concentrations to come to the proposal that was voted on onthe 13th.
It is important to remember that all students currently in these minors will be taught out, and many classes within the minors will continue to be taught. The board also stressed that these cuts are ideally temporary, and once the university is in a stable position again, they can look at bringing back some of these minors.
The most heartbreaking discussion of that meeting was the decision to cut the swimming and tennis teams. This decision was made for purely financial reasons, with the pool costing 150,000 dollars a year to upkeep and needing repairs of 500,000 dollars to continue to use it.
After hearing pleas from the students on the swim team and understanding that the team had only found out a day before, the board decided to table the official decision until the May 1st Board of Trustees meeting.
