College Trustees come to campus

Author: Ben Salkowe

The Board of Trustees convened this past weekend for its annual fall retreat to discuss major issues before the College - on the agenda was the strategic planning report, Axinn '51 Center for the Humanities and the College's affiliation with the Monterey Institute for International Studies [MIIS]. In addition, the Trustees met over the weekend with student organizations, and attended an exclusive dinner with members of Atwater Commons. The retreat at the Bread Loaf campus in Ripton also marked a first for a handful of new Trustees.

The Strategic Planning Process for Middlebury's future was among the top priorities of discussion at the Board's meetings. "The Trustees got a summary review of the planning process, spent considerable time on the draft mission statement, discussing it and its meaning in 'break out groups,' and reviewed and discussed in another set of 'break out groups' the major themes that are emerging from the planning process," said President Ronald D. Liebowitz. He added, "They also got a good sense of the many issues we are engaging in the planning process."

Secretary of the College John Emerson, who is also the Dean of the Planning Process, commented that the discussions focused largely on the draft of the College's revised mission statement in particular. The draft, which was first circulated to students at the close of September, includes a new emphasis on the College's graduate and specialty programs, whereas the existing mission statement mentions only the College's undergraduate program. "The Language Schools, Schools Abroad, Bread Loaf School of English, and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference are not only distinguished ventures in their own right, but are also integral to the larger identity of our college," read the draft circulated to students.

According to Emerson, the discussions of the Trustees generated a significant amount of feedback. "The Trustees made many constructive suggestions for the Mission Statement. We are going to work on a new draft of that," he told The Campus. In addition, the Planning Steering Committee extended an invitation on Tuesday for students, faculty and staff to attend open meetings following the fall break, where the mission statement and other planning proposals would be discussed.

Beyond discussions of the mission statement, the Trustees also discussed the five themes emerging from the strategic planning process - including goals to extend access to Middlebury College to all qualified students of any financial need and to build on "intense" faculty-student interactions. "The Trustees were generally very positive about the five broad themes for planning that we shared with the College community earlier this fall," said Emerson.

These themes, however, and in particular the desire to make Middlebury more financially accessible and simultaneously expand faculty-student interactions, have also delayed the planning process. In his September planning update, Emerson wrote, "Several aspects of our work have taken longer than we had envisioned." He added, "Task force recommendations that we further strengthen student-faculty interactions by improving the student-faculty ratio have forced us to rethink our assumptions about the ideal size of the student body and faculty, and of course there are related staff implications. Furthermore, any changes in the numbers of people in the community have implications for our physical plant and the campus infrastructure."

The ambitious themes of the emerging strategic plan have brought a number of fundamental issues into light - namely the College's financial aid packages and the student-faculty ratio. As the administration is still gathering information and preparing reports on these areas of the plan, the Trustees did not review advance reports on these issues. Liebowitz and other administrators gave presentations on these greater issues over the weekend.

In addition to strategic planning discussions, the Trustees addressed a host of other campus issues, ranging from the MIIS affiliation to the $50 million donation first announced in the spring of 2004.

"On [MIIS], the Board heard an extensive update on the affiliation process, saw the latest financial model, and then voted to approved for the affiliation to move forward," said Liebowitz. It is expected that the final agreement will be signed December 1 or 2, once Liebowitz, Board Chair Frederick M. Fritz '68 and the Prudential Committee of the Board complete remaining business. According to Liebowitz, "[The Trustees] were delighted to hear that $12.1 million had been pledged to Middlebury in support of the Monterey Initiative, and that no Middlebury endowment or operating budget funds were needed to support the affiliation."

The Board also received an update on the progression of the Starr Library renovation for creation of the Axinn '51 Center for the Humanities. According to Liebowitz, the Trustees approved the project to move forward with a ceiling of $26.4 million. The project, which is anticipated to break ground as early as this spring, has a projected opening of fall 2007.

On the subject of the $50 million challenge gift to the College by an anonymous donor, Liebowitz explained, "Each year we set alumni participation goals for part of the $50 million challenge, and if we meet the goal, we get $1 million from the anonymous donor toward the operation budget." Because the alumni participation goal last year, at 51 percent, was exceeded with an actual participation of 56 percent, a Middlebury record, the goal for next year has to be set even higher. The Trustees discussed new pledges which had been received against the challenge, and also what the record alumni participation meant for future goals.

The Trustees also discussed possible honorary degree recipients for the May 2006 Commencement. "A Board committee reviewed many nominations submitted by the College community a few weeks ago," Emerson said. "Decisions won't be made before spring 2006."

In addition to meeting with student organizations and leaders through the retreat, the Board attended a special reception in Atwater Dining Hall on Friday evening. Members of Atwater Commons received printed invitations and more than a half dozen e-mails pleading for volunteers to sign-up for free tickets to the reception, which featured a special menu and drinks. The event was a rare commons-restricted reception, "Please note that only Atwater Commons Residents are invited," Atwater Faculty Co-Head Emmie Donadio wrote in one invitation.

Those who did attend the reception, however, as well as those who met with the Board over the weekend, left strong impressions, according to Liebowitz. "One of our new trustees, at her first meeting, said, after engaging the students, that she knew she made the right decision to serve as a trustee," he said.

The retreat welcomed five new trustees: Pamela Tanner Boll '78, Patrick L. McConathy and James Edward Virtue as term trustees, Felix G. Rohatyn '49 as a charter trustee, and Donald M. Elliman, Jr. '67 as an alumni trustee.

Old Chapel, as well as students who met with the Board during the retreat, was pleased with the fall meeting. Liebowitz commented, "The retreat was a great success, in my view, because the Trustees, including our new five trustees, got to engage important issues in a sustained way, and, in some sessions, did so through discussions with administrators, faculty, students and staff."