Board of Visitors Meeting February 28, 2008

The Board of Visitors of Christopher Newport University met on February 28, 2008, in the Board Room of the David Student Union with Rector Claude S. Hornsby, III presiding.

Rector Hornsby welcomed everyone and called for a motion to approve the minutes of the June 15, 2007, September 13, 2007 meetings and the Executive Committee meeting on December 18, 2007. The motion was made by Mr. Heath, seconded by Ms. Frank and passed by unanimous vote of the Board.

President's Report

President Trible updated the Board on current and upcoming capital projects and showed a virtual tour of the campus indicating the location of existing buildings and the plan over the next 10 years for future buildings including McMurran Hall, the Luter College of Business and Leadership, the new science building, the expansion of the Freeman Center, chapel and bell tower, welcome/admissions building and possible sorority and fraternity housing.

In the first two months of opening, 74,000 people have visited the library and it has been embraced by students faculty and staff. Already, the hours of the library need to be expanded.

President Trible reported the following on admissions:

• 7,300 applications have been received – 11% more than last year
• The number of admitted freshmen is up by 9% over last year
• The admitted freshmen have an average GPA of 3.7 and average SAT of 1198
• CNU hosted 1,000 guests over 4 days for the Leadership Visit Day and Open House and over 400 guests attended the admissions event in Northern Virginia
• Applications from students of color are up 21% and up by 97 applications for African Americans. Applications from Asian Americans and Latinos are up by 16% and 18% respectively.
• Over 400 students have applied to the Leadership Program and 29 students have been offered the new Canon scholarship. The Canon Scholars have an average GPA of 4.1 and average SAT of 1366.
• Applications are up by 18% in Northern Virginia; 23% in Richmond ; and 27% in Fredericksburg
• Out-of-state applications are up 33% with the largest number from Maryland . There are applicants from 33 different states.

President Trible then distributed and reviewed various admissions and enrollment data with the Board. The first document ranked Virginia 's public four-year universities by acceptance rate which indicated that CNU is the third most selective school in the state. He explained that SCHEV develops a peer group list which identifies the 24 institutions throughout the nation most like CNU. The only two Virginia schools on CNU's peer list are Washington and Lee and the University of Richmond . The data on the next chart ranked peer institutions in terms of admission yield rates and CNU is shown to be the 4th most selective of the 25 national schools on the peer list. On the chart ranking Virginia Public schools by median SAT, CNU is 5 th . The next sheet ranked schools by retention of first-time, full-time students entering fall 2006 and returning fall 2007. On this chart, CNU's retention rate is 81.84% The next chart ranked the percentage of minority students. There has been an explosion of applications from Asian students and CNU continues to work on recruiting more African American students. The freshmen minority data for fall 2006-2007 showed that in fall 2005 14% of students who registered at CNU were students of color; in 2006, 16% and fall 2007, 18% were students of color. Compared to fall admits in 2007, 17.4% were students of color and as of today, 20.3% of all admits are students of color.

The CNU Marching Captains have been invited to participate in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade which is a pre-requisite for the Macy's Day Parade. There were only 12 bands selected across the nation to participate in the Philadelphia Parade.

The Ferguson Center continues to draw large crowds. Total attendance since the opening of the 500-seat theater is 497,375 people and total ticket sales for the professional series is $10,291,199.

The daily sales in Einstein's, located in the new library, have soared from less than $1,000 day to an average of $2,200 per day. Since the beginning of the semester Einstein's has had 20,341 customers and 20% of the sales are from milkshakes.

Next President Trible introduced Dr. Tracey Schwarze, Vice Provost and Dr. Bob Colvin, the Chair of Leadership and American Studies Department. Dr. Colvin said that President Trible had challenged his colleagues to make leadership and civic engagement and service learning signature distinctives of CNU. The university has responded positively and he and Dr. Schwarze are leading that effort on campus.

Dr. Colvin discussed with the Board the Summer Leadership Institute which will bring 120 rising high school seniors to CNU for two weeks. These students take a three credit course on Civic Leadership: Leading for the American Dream. In addition, Dr. Colvin described the Service and Civic Engagement Initiatives taking place on campus. A group of more than 60 volunteers made up of faculty, staff and students are working to find ways for CNU to help local nonprofit and municipal agencies in our area. There are 5 different outreach initiatives in progress to reach this goal.

Report on Executive Committee Meeting

Vice-Rector Joseph reported to the Board on the actions taken at the Executive Committee meeting held on December 18, 2007. The purpose of that meeting was to authorize a debt resolution relating to the relocation of the Mariners' Museum Library to CNU. Also the Executive Committee discussed proposals from the Real Estate Foundation regarding the financing of the president's house. Agreement has not been reached on financing but a structure on the debt service was determined. Mr. Joseph reported that construction has begun on the president's house and it is anticipated to be complete in spring 2009. The Executive Committee also passed a resolution establishing the Ferguson Center for the Arts Foundation.

Finance and Audit Committee Report  

Mr. Joseph reported that the committee met with the State auditor for an entrance conference which is a requirement under the new auditing guidelines. He said that if any member of the Board had a matter they wished the auditor to review, they could communicate with him or CNU's internal auditor. Also, the finance committee reviewed in detail the financial statements and everything appeared in line and as expected.

Vice Rector Joseph discussed the SWAM initiatives on campus to increase the use of small women and minority owned businesses. Minority participation has increased over the past year and will continue do so with the construction of McMurran Hall. By using a method called CM@Risk, CNU will be able to work directly with the contractor to help select the use of minority vendors on this project. CNU received the 2007 Governors SWAM Innovator Award/Best Practice at the 2007 Procurement Forum. Mr. Brauer thanked Mr. Wilson for his assistance in helping CNU with these efforts.

Mr. Brauer explained RESOLUTION 1: Transfer of Endowment which authorizes the transfer of endowment funds from the university to the Foundation. The funds would only be transferred after exhausting all efforts to contact all the donors. To the extent donors could not be contacted, this resolution authorizes the Board to transfer these monies. This action is taken in accordance with advice from the Attorney General's office.

RESOLUTION 2: Accounts Considered Uncollectible comes to the Board each year, Mr. Brauer explained. After every effort is made to collect these monies, it is requested that the Board authorize writing off these debts.

RESOLUTIONS 3 and 4: provide for reimbursement of expenditures on capital projects. This is to start projects with CNU's money with the intent of issuing debt in the future and being reimbursed by tax exempt bonds. These resolutions are for the expansion of athletic facilities and for making small modifications to the student union building since its opening.

Rector Hornsby called for discussion and questions following which Mr. Joseph moved for approval of RESOLUTIONS 1-4, seconded by Ms. Hoinkes and passed by unanimous vote of the Board.

Academic Affairs Committee

Ms. Hoinkes said that the Committee met with Provost Padilla who reported on his first and positive impressions of his new position at the University. He reported on the status of the change in workload for faculty which will be going into effect this fall for non- tenure faculty members and in 2010 for everyone else. There are 10 new faculty positions being created as a result of the change in the teaching load. President Trible reported that the long term goal is to increase faculty by 100 which will reduce the class size. The Provost gave an update on the search for Dean of the Luter College . Dr. Schwarze reported to the committee on service and civic engagement initiatives and Mary Sellen enthusiastically reported to the committee on the new library. The Committee considered RESOLUTION 5: Change in Plan of Compensation. The average increase recommended is 6% across ranks from last year. This Resolution sets forth the ranges for faculty salaries and the committee recommended approval of the Resolution to the Board. Rector Hornsby called for questions followed by a motion from Ms. Crittenden, seconded by Ms. Hunnicutt and the Resolution passed by unanimous vote of the Board.

Student Life Committee Report

Mr. Martin commended the University on its policies and procedures put in place following the Virginia Tech tragedy. He stated that the actions put in place following the incident in Illinois were all part of CNU's plan and that he believes CNU is in the best position possible to react to a tragedy on campus.

Mr. Martin then asked the SGA President Andrew Lundsten to address the Board. Mr. Lundsten reported that the efforts to revise the constitution did not pass by the two-thirds majority as required. He said the library has been embraced and has become a central gathering place for students on campus and already there are requests to extend the library hours. Other initiatives of the SGA include development of a new calendaring system for students where students can post events, reserve rooms on campus, etc.; beautification of campus; establishing better ways to contact and stay in touch with alumni; revising the alcohol policy making East campus “wet” and allowing alcohol at tailgating events. These recommendations will be brought before the Alcohol Task Force committee for their approval.

Faculty Senate Report

Dr. Whiting reported that the faculty is working with the Provost's office on the new evaluation system for faculty and they are streamlining that process. He, too, reported on the excitement of the faculty about the new library and the new academic buildings planned for campus. He thanked President Trible for his efforts on getting funding for these projects. Dr. Whiting said the Faculty Senate continues to meet with the President and administration on a regular basis.

Alumni Society Report

Mr. Koontz reported that the alumni society hosted a career development workshop and 120 people attended and over 20 alumni helped support that event. The alumni are having mini-workshops with students which will include mock interviews, sessions on work in public sector, entrepreneurship, life after college, how to look for a job, etc. all in an effort to make transition from college to the workforce easier. Mr. Koontz also said that the alumni society would like to be involved in the discussion on alcohol policies as it relates to tailgating.

At 2:00 p.m. Rector Hornsby called for a motion to enter closed session under Freedom of Information Act, Section 2.2-3711 (a)1 Personnel; (a)3 Real Estate; (a)(6) Investments; (a)(7) litigation and (a)(8) gifts, bequests and fundraising. The motion was provided by Mr. Heath, seconded by Ms. Hoinkes and passed by unanimous vote of the Board.

At 2:25 p.m. the Board returned to open session and Rector Hornsby asked for a roll call certifying that only public matters were discussed which were identified in the motion by which the executive or closed meeting was called. Board members Ms. Budlong, Ms. Crittenden, Mr. Heath, Ms. Hoinkes, Mr. Joseph, Ms. Luter, Mr. Martin, Ms. Hunnicutt, Ms. Frank, Mr. Holloman, Mr. Passaro, Mr. Wilson and Rector Hornsby certified to the above.

Mr. Hornsby called for a motion to approve the following resolutions which were discussed in closed session. Mr. Joseph provided the motion, seconded by Mr. Heath and passed by unanimous vote of the Board:

RESOLUTION 6: Promotions of Instructional Faculty

RESOLUTION 7: Promotion of Professional Faculty

RESOLUTION 8: Tenured Appointments of Instructional Faculty

RESOLUTIONS 9-10 and 13: Award of Emeritus Status

(note: Resolution 11 was withdrawn)

Ms. Perry reviewed with the Board RESOLUTION 12: Changes to the By-Laws of the Board of Visitors. This resolution was reviewed and discussed with the Board and will be voted upon at the April meeting.

Ms. Perry distributed RESOLUTION 14: CNU Workplace Violence Policy. She explained that the State requires that a policy be in place to ensure a safe work environment for its employees. This resolution sets forth CNU's policy which is modeled throughout the State. Rector Hornsby called for a motion to approve RESOLUTION 14, which was provided by Mr. Heath, seconded by Ms. Crittenden and passed by unanimous vote of the Board.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

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Ms. Deborah Budlong, Secretary to the Board

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Beverley Mueller, Administrative Assistant to the Board

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Claude S. Hornsby, III, Rector of the Board

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