Metro State’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of two new programs at its Sept. 5 meeting following the College’s Welcome Back Ceremony.

The first vote was to approve the increase in the student fee for the Sustainable Campus Program. Jack Wylie, president of the Student Government Assembly, made a presentation to the board on the results of last spring’s student vote in favor of raising the fee and how the money will be used.

The $1 Clean Energy Fee, approved by the students in 2004, expired at the end of the spring 2007 semester. With the board’s approval, the new sustainable campus fee will start at $3 in spring of 2008, and continue with a stepped increase every year up to $5 per semester in 2010-11. The stepped increases from $3 to $4 and from $4 to $5 will require ratification each year by the governing bodies of the three institutions that share the Auraria campus.

The Sustainable Campus Program will build upon the programs provided by the Clean Energy Fee and has the following program goals:

• increase the current renewable energy program, including wind and solar purchases;
• implement a comprehensive recycle program;
• increase energy efficiency of campus buildings;
• reduce per capita water use on campus; and
• market these improvements to the campus population through educational programs.

In a related story, proceeds from the $1 Clean Energy Fee have funded a number of small solar lighting projects on campus. To read more go to http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/solar_twv5091207.shtml.

The second unanimous vote by the board approved the in-state status for qualifying students in accordance with HB07-1256, which permits the state’s colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition status to a student who moves to Colorado as a result of the student’s or his or her parent’s employer moving to Colorado pursuant to an incentive from the Office of Economic Development or an incentive from a local government. It also permits an institution to provide in-state tuition status to a student who moves to Colorado as a result of the student’s parent taking a faculty position at a Colorado institution of higher education.

According to Vice President of Administration and Finance Natalie Lutes, the only company that the economic development council has approved thus far for this policy is Martin Marietta.

Reports
Chair Adele Phelan reported that at the board retreat in August consultant Terrence MacTaggart said that Metro State has begun putting the elements in place that are necessary for the College to have the potential of reaching preeminence. These include:

• an academic strategic plan
• a master plan
• a faculty pay for performance system
• budget planning
• an increased number of tenured and tenure-track professors
• a renewed potential for external fundraising

Phelan also said that at the retreat the board decided to add a nonvoting alumni representative, for which the criteria have yet to be established.

Filling in for Trustee Maria Garcia Berry, who represents Metro State on the Auraria Board and serves on the Campus Master Plan Committee, President Stephen Jordan said that in August the state legislature’s Capitol Development Committee had toured the South Classroom, the Science Building and the three trailers that UCDHSC is using for extra space.

Jordan said the committee acknowledged the noxious fumes in the Science Building, even though there were no students at the time. They were interested in alternative funding options for the building’s renovation but added that statutory changes might be required in order to allow for other funding methods.

The committee members asked for information that they could use to put together a proposed bill next session.

Jordan also announced that the revised list of peer institutions for all of the state’s public colleges and universities has been given to the leaders of each institution. Metro State’s new list, according to Jordan, still shows the College is funded (general fund and tuition and fees per FTE) at 47.48% of its peer institutions.

He also said that this fall’s enrollment shows an increase of 532 students in the 19-24 age group, while the number of students 30 years and older declined. He suspects that these older students are returning to the workforce, as enrollment is countercyclical to the health of the economy (People work when the economy is good, and return to school when it’s not.) Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services Judi Diaz Bonacquisti said her staff will place an emphasis on trying to determine the reason for the drop, but added that she wants to look at other colleges’ enrollment figures.

Faculty Senate President Hal Nees reported that the senate has a list of concerns regarding pay for performance. These include:

• equity/parity
• that higher education funding needs to be stable
• that pay for performance might lead to a move away from the College’s priority on teaching

Nees said he intends that the Faculty Senate’s vote on the pay for performance issue comes before the board no later than December.