The Board of Governors met Friday, and although it was a quiet meeting, several significant actions were taken:

·    Western’s proposed program in Emergency Management was “fast-tracked” and approved during this meeting. The program was submitted in October so the Board staff acted very quickly. We all owe Jim Sadler a “thank you” for getting the review of this program completed in a timely manner.

·    Residence hall renovation projects at Western were approved.

·    The Board determined that it would not recommend to the General Assembly an increase in local or general tuition this year. Western and several other schools had recommended local tuition increases to improve faculty salaries, but the Board expressed significant concern for the number of unemployed people in the state and the poor performance of the state’s economy. You should remember that the Board of Governors only recommends tuition increases; the legislature makes the final decision.

·    The Board passed a resolution honoring university staff for their lengthy service and hard work.

Richard Moore, the State Treasurer, spoke at some length to the Board.  Because of the use of “one-time funding” to fill this year’s budget gap, the state has a “hard number” shortfall of $850 million for next fiscal year.  Moore noted, therefore, that for the current budget year revenues and expenditures were balanced but that the state has no remaining flexibility.  He further noted that there was no indication that the state’s revenues would “grow out of” the problem so there would need to be another round of fiscal corrections.  Either the state would need to raise taxes or reduce expenditures.

If you have any questions regarding the Board meeting, please do not hesitate to contact me.

John Bardo