Spring Break
Board of Trustees approves 2009 budget, contract extension
Non-tenure track faculty will receive domestic partner benefits
Ben Wolford
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: News
Amid rising costs of operating the university, the Kent State Board of Trustees approved the continuation of the state-mandated tuition freeze along with the 2009 fiscal year budget today.
The budget was set at $470,264,000.
"Seventy-five percent of our budget is coming from student tuition," President Lester Lefton said. "Given that tuition has been fixed and the 9.6 percent increase of our budget that the state provides, we are in a pinch."
Lefton cited the rising costs of electricity, gas, food and salaries as expenses causing the pinch.
Tuition at Kent State is $4,215 per semester for a full-time undergraduate student living in Ohio.
The board also approved a one-year extension and modifications in the collective-bargaining agreement between the university and the non-tenure track faculty.
The agreement gives a three-percent increase in base salaries and, for the first time, offers domestic partner benefits for opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
It also extends the three-year contract, set to expire August 16, 2008, by one year.
The university proposed the agreement to both tenure and non-tenure track faculty at the beginning of April, but the tenure-track faculty rejected it and will continue with negotiations.
Outlining the importance of being an "international community," the board approved the establishment of a master's in translation and master's in business administration dual degree program, effective Fall 2009.
"The understanding of foreign languages and cultures is increasingly important," said trustee Brian Tucker.
Lefton said the program will make graduates more capable of competing in a global job market.
"A translation studies program is totally consistent with our building a global university," Lefton said. "You are not competing in a statewide or local economy, you are competing on a national or international stage."
The Board also elected the following trustees as officers: Patrick Mullin as chair, Tucker as vice-chair and Jacqueline Woods as secretary.
Contact principal reporter Ben Wolford at bwolfor2@kent.edu.
The budget was set at $470,264,000.
"Seventy-five percent of our budget is coming from student tuition," President Lester Lefton said. "Given that tuition has been fixed and the 9.6 percent increase of our budget that the state provides, we are in a pinch."
Lefton cited the rising costs of electricity, gas, food and salaries as expenses causing the pinch.
Tuition at Kent State is $4,215 per semester for a full-time undergraduate student living in Ohio.
The board also approved a one-year extension and modifications in the collective-bargaining agreement between the university and the non-tenure track faculty.
The agreement gives a three-percent increase in base salaries and, for the first time, offers domestic partner benefits for opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
It also extends the three-year contract, set to expire August 16, 2008, by one year.
The university proposed the agreement to both tenure and non-tenure track faculty at the beginning of April, but the tenure-track faculty rejected it and will continue with negotiations.
Outlining the importance of being an "international community," the board approved the establishment of a master's in translation and master's in business administration dual degree program, effective Fall 2009.
"The understanding of foreign languages and cultures is increasingly important," said trustee Brian Tucker.
Lefton said the program will make graduates more capable of competing in a global job market.
"A translation studies program is totally consistent with our building a global university," Lefton said. "You are not competing in a statewide or local economy, you are competing on a national or international stage."
The Board also elected the following trustees as officers: Patrick Mullin as chair, Tucker as vice-chair and Jacqueline Woods as secretary.
Contact principal reporter Ben Wolford at bwolfor2@kent.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
Robin Anderson
posted 5/29/08 @ 10:10 AM EST
Hmmm...
...I wonder what ever happened to the "currently uncommitted fund of monies" that Doc Creamer claimed a mere two years ago was "drawn upon for the first time ever" to cover the University's end of the tuition freezes for the years 2007 & 2008? Such a tidy sum of approximately $327 million dollars(two years ago) invested in even secure bank cds at a rate anywhere near the 5 percent interest my pitiful savings was earning would have been earning at least $16,350,000. (Continued…)
Hmmm
posted 5/29/08 @ 10:44 AM EST
Didn't Lefton get a raise too??????? and a bonus????????
Melody Wachowski
posted 5/29/08 @ 5:42 PM EST
Left also receives a three percent raise, bringing to grand total salary to almost $400,000 plus a $70,000 bonus each year.
Way too much money if you ask me!
Robin Anderson
posted 6/01/08 @ 7:25 PM EST
Yeah...Loot Lefton and his cronies keep getting their raises, along with the tuition payers, eh? All while the good folk who make sure the University keeps on truckin are deprived of even the option of purchasing health care insurance that provides 100% coverage. (Continued…)
T King
posted 6/02/08 @ 7:01 AM EST
Isn't one definition of insanity the idea that you keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results?
Since operating costs keep going up, and enrollment is starting to drop due to high costs, and worker's wages are stagnant, and the cost of just coming to work keeps going up, and KSU keeps cutting workers, and the buildings are crumbling, _by all means_, keep heaping money on the in-bred admin folk who no one ever sees. (Continued…)
T King
posted 6/10/08 @ 12:46 AM EST
The abstract for the initial news article reads...
"Amid rising costs of operating the university, the Kent State Board of Trustees approved the continuation of the state-mandated tuition freeze and approved the 2009 fiscal year budget today. (Continued…)
Post a Comment