Minutes
UWF Board of Trustees
UWF Conference Center
November 22, 2002
Chair Collier Merrill called the meeting of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees to order at 10 a.m.
Trustees present were:
Honor Bell
K.C. Clark
Jason Crawford
Lornetta Epps
Sharon Hess Herrick
Collier Merrill
JoAnn Morgan
Eddie Phillips
Roy Smith
Chair's greetings
Chair Merrill reminded trustees of the Gallery of History Friday evening in downtown Pensacola and of the Holiday Gala in Historic Pensacola Village on December 6. Commencement is December 14.
He also informed the Board that the January conference call is being moved to 8:30 a.m., January 6 because the Board is required to adopt certain rules before January 7.
President's greetings
President John Cavanaugh announced that Dr. Debbie Ford, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students at Spalding University in Louisville, KY has been appointed the vice president for Student Affairs.
Regina DeIulio has been appointed University Counsel. She is the associate general counsel at USF with 10 years experience in the State University System. She comes highly recommended by the search committee.
Regarding the recently adopted constitutional amendments, the class-size and pre-K amendments will have an impact on the UWF budget. He has sent a letter to Governor Bush regarding the potential implications to the UWF budget and encouraged him not to reduce higher-education funding. The state could create a wonderful K-12 system, and then students have nowhere to go. He and the incoming Senior Vice President Hal White, both with North Carolina experience, are urging the governor and staff to keep local control.
Okaloosa-Walton Community College is seeking permission to offer four-year-degree programs, including a baccalaureate degree in nursing. The president said he doesn't want to see negative ramifications on the strong OWCC-UWF partnership. There is a statewide push to offer four-year degrees in education at community colleges, and the university needs to maintain vigilance on that point because it changes the entire complexion of the system. Pensacola Junior College and UWF have a very good partnership.
Approval of minutes
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Bell seconded approval of the minutes from the August 23 meeting. It passed unanimously.
Action items
1. Rules, policies and procedures.
Trustee Epps moved and Trustee Hess Herrick seconded adoption of the proposed timeline to adopt rules, policies and procedures. It passed unanimously with no discussion.
2. Faculty representation on the BOT
Trustee Smith explained that as part of the Board's commitment to faculty, Dr. Klaus Meyer-Arendt, president of the Faculty Senate, has been encouraged to attend meetings, he receives the agenda and the Board has made him an ex-officio member of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. The proposal is to formalize that arrangement.
Trustee Smith moved and Trustee Bell seconded to have the Faculty Senate president sit as an ex-officio (non-voting) member of the Board of Trustees.
The ensuing discussion centered on the merits of that change, with Trustee Clark asking whether a precedent is established whereby other UWF constituencies would seek the same. President Cavanaugh said that faculty have a special role in shared governance, which is unlike other university groups. Trustee Smith said that the recently passed constitutional amendment creates boards of trustees with faculty representation, so this action would be in anticipation of that. Trustee Phillips suggested the general counsel and president draft a response to other groups who may seek representation.
The vote was unanimous.
Trustee Meyer-Arendt was seated with the trustees.
Academic and Student Affairs Committee report
Trustee Smith said the committee followed BOT policies in approving two degree programs brought before the BOT for a vote: A bachelor's degree in Maritime Studies and a master's degree in Anthropology.
Dr. Judy Bense, chair of the anthropology department, said that the anthropology program began as a track in the History Department nine years ago, and it is time to mature the program. It has strong support and can be very successful in recruiting students. Dr. Bense said the Maritime Studies program is very broad and also will be popular.
Trustee Smith moved and Trustee Crawford seconded the motion to approve both degree programs. It passed unanimously.
Two other programs that were approved for exploration in June are not yet ready for BOT review. Executive Vice President Parks Dimsdale said the Spa and Resort Management proposal will come to the Board next year so it can begin in the fall of 2003. A consultant has been hired, and talks with private partners continue.
Finance, Administration and Audit Committee Report
1. Master Plan
Don Carlos presented a brief presentation on the development of the Master Plan. A public hearing was held, and those comments were very minimal, resulting in no significant changes to the plan presented to the Board in January. It has been reviewed by the Board of Education. There is agreement with Escambia County to allow what's in the five-year plan, so at some point infrastructure permits will be sought. Any land identified as a wetland or in the 100-year flood plain will be protected, plus there are other areas protected because of the unique types of habitat. There also are buffers and setback zones around the edge of the property.
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Epps seconded the motion to approve the Master Plan. It passed unanimously.
2. Student Fees
Trustee Clark briefed the Board on the proposed fees, which were developed by a committee with students comprising half of the membership. The 90-cent increase in the Student Activity and Service Fee and the Athletic fee is a 4.1 percent overall increase, within state requirements. The A&P fee will increase 5.1 percent and the Athletic Fee 4.5 percent.
The second proposed fee increase is for the Educational Research Center for Child Development. The weekly rate increases for 2003-04 would increase between 2 percent and 2.6 percent. There also is a proposed $25 increase for initial registration.
Trustee Clark moved adoption of the fees, and Trustee Epps seconded. They passed unanimously.
3. Resolution on Matching Gifts program
The state Matching Gift program is $152 million in arrears, and the resolution asks the Legislature to sell bonds to cover the deficit.
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Hess Herrick seconded adoption of the resolution. It passed unanimously.
Resolution 2002 - 8
University of West Florida Board of Trustees
Resolution encouraging the Florida Legislature to issue bonds to pay for the backlog in the Major Gifts Trust Fund
WHEREAS, the Florida Legislature has created the Major Gifts Trust Fund, which matches private donations to universities with state dollars, and
WHEREAS, the highly popular program has not been fully funded by the Florida Legislature, resulting in a backlog of about $152 million, and
WHEREAS, prospective donors are discouraged by this lack of funding, now
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the University of West Florida Board of Trustee, meeting in the University Conference Center on this 22nd day of November, 2002, does hereby encourage the Florida Legislature to fully fund the backlog, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of West Florida Board of Trustees encourages the Florida Legislature to issue 20-year bonds to fully fund the backlog, using proceeds from the Florida Lottery to pay the annual carrying costs of about $8 million, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of West Florida Board of Trustees encourages the Legislature to change the Major Gifts program by establishing a $3 million cap of state dollars to match a single gift in any one year, establishing a $15 million cap ($3 million for five years) on any single gift, and requiring that matched gifts must be used for university priorities only, as established by individual university boards of trustees, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be included in the minutes of this meeting.
_________________________
November 22, 2002
J. Collier Merrill
Chair, University of West Florida Board of Trustees
____________________END OF RESOLUTION________________________
4. Transportation fee
Trustee Clark reported that a UWF committee recommended a $1-per-credit fee for students to operate a trolley system. The students on the committee came up with that idea after rejecting a flat $10-per-student fee. Faculty and Staff would pay an increase of $5 for the parking decals. The trolley system will help solve some of the parking problems, he said. A grant will pay for half of the cost to operate the trolley for the first two years. If UWF decides to continue to operate a third year, it also would receive a grant, but it also would have to commit to operating a fourth year without the grant. The reserves built up with the fees would help offset the loss of the grant, when that occurs.
Trustee Clark moved adoption of the fees and Trustee Crawford seconded.
Dr. Meyer-Arendt said the faculty asks the Board to reconsider because there was not much faculty representation on the committee, it should have been run through the respective Faculty Senate committee, this action is a breech of confidence, it represents a 12.5 percent increase for faculty, those who use it should pay for it, and a new committee formed by Dr. Cornelius Wooten is looking at the whole fee structure. He also asked two questions: Why is there a $46,000 reserve fund, and will the system be cost effective?
Trustee Clark said the faculty representation was at least what is normally on such committees, everyone will have access to the system so the users are paying for most of the system and the reserves are to pay for the system in the fourth year.
An e-mail seeking volunteers to sit on the committee had been sent to all faculty, but none came forward.
Pat Crawford, assistant vice president, said potential growth is built into the system, and this has been a student initiative since the beginning. Students felt that faculty and staff should pay something, and parking decals are artificially low-cost at UWF.
Trustee Bell said he was sensitive to the system making decisions without input, and the Faculty Senate should have been given a voice. Crawford said the idea originally came from the retention committee, which had faculty input.
Voting for the transportation fee were Trustees Clark, Crawford, Epps, Hess Herrick, Merrill, Morgan, Phillips and Smith
Voting against the transportation fee was Trustee Bell.
5. President's salary
Trustee Clark explained that all state employees received a 2.5 percent salary increase effective Oct 1. FAU, which is seeking a president, is looking at a salary range of between $325,000 and $500,000 annually, highlighting the competitive market.
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Bell seconded increasing the president's salary by 2.5 percent, effective October 1. It passed unanimously.
6. Update on finance and human resources system
The Division of Administrative Affairs and Information Technology Services are working to have a vendor recommendation on the human resources system and the finance system by the January Board meeting.
Discussion item 1 - Legislative update
Director of Governmental Relations Janice Gilley briefed the Board on several items:
Federal efforts - On Monday, there was a system meeting in Tallahassee regarding federal research dollars. Of the 32 attending, seven were from UWF. For fiscal year 2004, UWF is seeking funds for Environmental Research, the Virtual Business Accelerator and the Hometown Learning Communities, a project that would extend from the Texas/Louisiana border to the Apalachicola River. The president and others will make two trips to Washington - one in January or February and another in May.
· Constitutional amendments - There will be a Board of Governors by January 6, and the new system goes into effect on January 7 with reappointment of current boards of trustees. President Cavanaugh, because of his North Carolina experience, has an influence on the legislation and design of the new system.
The Pre-K measure will be absorbed within the budget with very little substantive impact on other budgets.
The budgetary impact of the class-size amendment means the state must either raise taxes, seek external funds or cut services. There is no legislative interest in raising taxes, but some are looking at gambling as a revenue source. Senate President Jim King said that community colleges and universities could forget about PECO funds for eight years.
· State legislative efforts - An important issue is the CLEP requirement because less than 17 percent of students taking the test pass it. If that requirement can be removed, it releases $7.9 million statewide that can be used elsewhere.
The Historic Preservation Village is the number one issue. The Florida Board of Education has determined the state is eligible for about $730,000 in yearly maintenance funds for those properties, based on its formula. UWF also seeks $1.6 million to take care of the deferred maintenance issues.
IHMC report
Dr. Ken Ford, IHMC director, reported that he met with Dr. Ron Belter, chair of the Psychology Department to find ways for better collaboration between the department and IHMC. There will be a meeting of faculty members to discuss what intellectual connections could be made and to discuss possible shared faculty lines.
The latest version of the proposed draft legislation to transform IHMC into a not-for-profit corporation was distributed to trustees, incorporating changes suggested by trustees during their briefings. The legislation is modeled after that for the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida. In addition to the legislation, there would be an affiliation agreement that would include the details of the relationship with UWF.
Discussion item 2 - UFF update
President Cavanaugh reported that he met with the UFF officials last week for a good informal exchange.
Dr. Jim Weaver, representing the UFF, said the goals of UFF are to help UWF, and he emphasized the mutually agreed-upon contract that has evolved during the last 25 years. UFF had earlier submitted a request to the president and the Board chair, requesting that the BOT voluntarily recognize UFF as the bargaining agent, based on more than 60 percent of faculty who asked for an election.
President Cavanaugh said that the faculty had recently impressed upon him the importance of following processes. There is a process approved by the Public Employee Relations Committee that calls for an election to certify a bargaining agent, and that process should be followed
Trustee Clark moved to reject the UFF request and follow the process, and Trustee Morgan seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
Presentation item - Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation (CEDB)
Dr. Ranga Rao Krothapalliu, CEDB director, said it has brought in $15 million worth of research support. Some of the highlights of the center's research include activities in coastal ecosystems (studying the Gulf of Mexico with six other universities, though UWF received one-third of the $6 million grant), agricultural runoffs, bioterrorism, local water contamination, Antarctic research and more.
Other business
1. MTI gift and naming
Manufacturing Technology Inc., a Fort Walton Beach, high-tech industry committed $100,000 to UWF for electrical and computer engineering. The proposal is to name FWB lab the Manufacturing Technology Inc., Circuits and Digital Lab.
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Epps seconded approval of the naming. It passed unanimously.
Trustee Smith recommended that guidelines be established for future gifts and naming possibilities. President Cavanaugh said that the new vice president for development, when appointed, and the Foundation Board and the BOT could work on that.
2. Florida Salary Reduction Cafeteria Plan
Because the BOT becomes employers after January 7, it is necessary for the Board to adopt the plan that has been in effect since 1989 on a statewide level. Adoption allows employees to continue pre-tax deductions, Keith Goldschmidt explained.
Trustee Clark moved and Trustee Epps seconded adoption of that plan. It passed unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 p.m.