The Board of Trustees convened on campus last weekend for a retreat to discuss the University’s finances and several student issues.
After a briefing to welcome six new members to the thirty-three member Board, the series of closed-door meetings started Friday evening and continued into Sunday.
In addition to the trustees, about ten administrators, President Doug Bennet, several faculty members and several WSA representatives attended the meetings, which were held in PAC and the Woodhead Lounge.
During the meetings, the Board asked the Administration to use less money from the University’s endowment to pay for current expenses. The University has currently taken about 6.4 percent from its endowment each year, instead of the guideline of 4.5 to 5.5 percent, according to Bennet.
“The Board has challenged us to reduce our reliance on the endowment as much as possible,” Bennet said.
He said that this should not mean a reduction in how much the University spends each year, but that some money that normally comes from the endowment will now come from the Wesleyan Annual Fund and from major-gift donations. Bennet said that he hopes that major gifts will increase in general.
“There’s a commitment toward adding gifts to the endowment,” he said. In the last fundraising campaign, the University received more than 35 separate donations of greater than $1 million.
When questioned, Bennet said that the University devotes the largest percentage of its budget to academic purposes compared with rival schools, but that this raises issues concerning campus life. He said that the endowment does need to be increased to provide the University with long-term financial security and the freedom to time spending on projects based on when they are needed.
“My answer to what is enough is I don’t know, but ours isn’t,” he said, noting that the University’s endowment is smaller than other top liberal arts colleges. He also said that the portfolio of the University’s investments is doing well.
The WSA representatives raised a variety of student issues, including better Administration responsiveness to student concerns. Bennet said that students had asked for better explanations for decisions made by the Administration and said that the WSA needs to help to improve communication.
WSA President Jesse Watson said that attending members of the WSA also raised concerns over other several issues, including recent changes at the Office of Behavioral Health (OBHS).
“We brought up a lot of things on the agenda that otherwise wouldn’t have been there,” said Watson. “I think we were very successful.”
Watson said that trustees expressed their concern with changes to OBHS and that the Administration assured the Board that they would follow-up. The changes, which went into effect earlier this semester, decreased the number of free appointments offered before students were referred to outside counselors.
Watson said that WSA members also pressed for increased alumni-student ties and more frequent visits by alumni to give talks on their professions.
“I think the student participation was the best I’ve ever seen at this meeting,” Bennet said.
Both Bennet and Watson said that potential changes to first-year advising were also discussed. In addition to praise for improved course access, Bennet said that other academic issues raised included the hiring of new faculty in the social sciences and improved faculty technology training.
There was a consensus during the meetings that the University should maintain its need-blind admissions policy, according to Bennet and Watson.
“I was happy that there was a continued concern for need-based aid,” Watson said.
The Board will return to campus for another meeting in November.
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