UNIVERSITY OF WEST ALABAMA
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MEETING MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 8, 2003
10:50 a.m.

TAKEN BY: MARGO N. BRYAN,
NOTARY PUBLIC AND COURT REPORTER
P R O C E E D I N G S

MR. MINUS: Okay. I'll call the meeting to order. Thank you, John. I'll
call the role now, please. It won't necessarily be in order. Mr. Watkins?
MR. WATKINS: Here.
MR. MINUS: Dr. Oliveira?
DR. OLIVEIRA: Present.
MR. MINUS: Bobby Keahey?
MR. KEAHEY: Here.
MR. MINUS: Dwight Duke?
MR. DUKE: Here.
MR. MINUS: Thed Spree?
MR. SPREE: Here.
MR. MINUS: Mann Minus? Here.
Terry Bunn? Paul Hamrick? Ms. Nolen?
Alex Saad? Dr. Umphrey? We have seven
present. Seven being a quorum. We will conduct business. Do I have a motion to approve the June board meeting minutes? I have them here in front of me if there are any questions.
MR. KEAHEY: So moved.
MR. WATKINS: Second.
MR. MINUS: When y'all make motions or speak, if you don't mind, please, for the court reporter's sake give your name.
MR. KEAHEY: Bobby Keahey made the motion. Nat Watkins seconded it. MR. MINUS: Any discussion? All in favor say aye.
ALL MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. MINUS: All opposed say no. The I's have it. The minutes are approved. I'm going to go into the appointment of some ad hoc committees here. I would like to appoint Dwight Duke and Bobby Keahey to a committee to review all capital expenditures made on campus over the past three years. The second committee would be to work with Dr. Holland as closely as possible for cost-cutting measures at the University in case the vote on September 9th fails. That committee would be our current finance committee, which is Mr. Watkins, Mr. Smith, Mr. Saad.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Hamrick.
MR. MINUS: Mr. Hamrick.
MR. WATKINS: And you as chairman, I think, was serving on that committee as well.
MR. MINUS: Okay. I'd like to add, if you would, Doris -- Dr. Oliveira and Bobby Keahey to that committee.
DR. OLIVEIRA: Excuse me. Will this committee meet immediately after or -- after the vote on the 9th or what is it?
MR. MINUS: Well, Mr. Watkins is chairman of finance, so he'll be chairman of this committee. He can --
MR. WATKINS: We've been meeting by teleconference as long as any action hasn't been taken.
MR. MINUS: I think, Nat, we'd probably have to meet with Dr. Holland and Raiford or whoever to get some kind of idea what direction we're going to go, but that's up to Mr. Watkins and members of the committee. I would like to at this time, the Chair would like to pass the gavel to Mr. Watkins for the purpose of Mr. Minus making some motions. I have not found anything that prohibits the chairman from making motions, but I'm going to pass that gavel for the purpose of making a motion.
MR. WATKINS: Is there a motion, Mr. Minus?
MR. MINUS: I would like to -- I would like to make a motion, Mr. Chairman, that -- I would like to make a motion, Mr. Chairman, that all attorney's fees be approved and paid by the University concerning the recent lawsuit on the majority of the Board's behalf.
MR. SMITH: I second the
motion.
MR. WATKINS: We have a motion by Mr. Minus and a second by Mr. Smith. Is there any discussion?
MR. MINUS: Those two attorneys, as y'all know, are Mr. Gallion and Mr. Pruitt.
MR. WATKINS: And your motion would include paying all legal fees to those two attorneys involved in this particular lawsuit?
MR. MINUS: Yes, sir.
MR. WATKINS: We have a motion. We have a second. Is there any further discussion? This doesn't call for a role call vote. All in favor say aye.
ALL MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. WATKINS: All opposed? Motion carries.
MR. MINUS: Mr. Chairman, I have another motion please.
MR. WATKINS: Is there another motion, Mr. Minus?
MR. MINUS: Yes, sir. I would like to make a motion that Raiford be removed as assistant secretary from the Board and that a replacement be named at an appropriate time.
MR. WATKINS: There is a motion. Is there a second?
MR. SMITH: Second, John Smith.
MR. WATKINS: Discussion? This will be by role call vote. Start with Mr. Keahey.
MR. KEAHEY: No.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Duke?
MR. DUKE: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Spree?
MR. SPREE: I meaning to remove?
MR. WATKINS: I meaning to remove, no meaning not to remove. Mr. Smith?
MR. SPREE: I.
MR. SMITH: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Minus?
MR. MINUS: I.
MR. WATKINS: I vote no.
MR. MINUS: Doris?
MR. WATKINS: Excuse me.
DR. OLIVEIRA: I.
MR. WATKINS: The motion carries.
MR. MINUS: Okay.
MR. WATKINS: Is there another motion, Mr. Minus?
MR. MINUS: I've got down on the agenda -- that's all. Thank you, Mr. Watkins.
MR. WATKINS: I'll return the Chair to Mr. Minus.
MR. MINUS: Thank you, sir. I've got down on the budget, on the agenda is a work session on the budget and Dr. Holland is here. Maybe he can give us some guidance. He's got a president's report he's going to present to us and the last one on that is the budget consideration, so at this time I will turn it over to Dr. Holland. Does everybody have this, Dr. Holland?
DR. HOLLAND: Yeah, I think.
MR. KEAHEY: We've got it.
DR. HOLLAND: The first is the athletic report showing really a review of our performance this past year for each team. I think everyone will agree that our coaches and players compete in the toughest Division II. conference in the nation. And I met with them and their regular faculty and complimented them and I've had a private meeting since then with the coaches to thank them. And I'm going to appoint a committee of coaches to kind of look at where we should be in the next two to three years and have them present that report to the president's counsel and to the athletic director. Just to see -- we know where we are now. We need to have some idea of where we're going and where we want to be. Not only does this report reflect the performances this past season, but it also reflects the amount of funds each team has raised. The athletic department raised over $100,000 last year, which greatly enhanced our programs. It would have been impossible to do what we did without that additional money. So any questions or anything on the athletic report? The next item on my list is accreditation and we've been dealing with three different types. As you know, we all realize we have one of the finest nursing programs in the state and it's particularly rewarding when others beyond our campus recognize this and our nursing program was recently reaccredited by the National League of Nursing this past year. The accreditation report was for the full eight years and I've worked with accreditation now for over 30 years and I have never seen such a report. There was not one single deficiency. That never ever occurs, but I think it's a compliment to our outstanding faculty and the leadership of Sylvia Homan. There are 22 criteria and they met each of them fully and beyond and then they were cited for outstanding work in five different areas. In the college of business, as you know, our programs where fully accredited, but we had to submit a two-year progress report, which we did last month. And we have been -- we met all of those requirements. Our accreditation continues. With the institutional accreditation of the Southern Association, we have -- we had a visit last year. We've been reaccredited for ten years. We have to present a follow-up report, though, on 11 recommendations on the 22nd of this month and we're -- we've almost completed that report. As part of that report, though, there's a special investigative committee coming to campus on October the 15th through the 17th. This is the committee that's appointed to look at the relationship between the Board and the institution. Dr. Fred Obear, who is the Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is going to head up that committee and there will be three other presidents on that committee from outside the State of Alabama. They contacted my office last week because they're going to start scheduling interviews with faculty, staff, and with members of the Board of Trustees so that when they're here in October, there will be two productive days. They'll have most of their homework done.
MR. SMITH: When is that going to be, Richard, October what?
DR. HOLLAND: 15th through the 17th.
MR. SPREE: Did you ask them to come or how did that come about?
DR. HOLLAND: How did what?
MR. SPREE: Who asked them to come?
DR. HOLLAND: It was a recommendation in the visitation from last April. In fact, here's the letter from the director of Sax, which I received a couple of weeks ago. "This visit is requested because the evidence from the reaffirmation committees' visit in March 2002 is inconclusive on issues involving Board of Trustees, specifically the recommendation that states that the University must demonstrate and document that Board actions result from a decision of the whole and no individual member or committee can take official action for the Board unless authorized to do so. And also the recommendation that states that the University must demonstrate and document that there is a clear distinction which exists not only in writing but also in practice between policy-making functions of the governing board and the responsibility of the administration and faculty to administer and implement those policies. So that's what they're coming to seek further documentation on. On the -- the next item on fundraising. This has been a very good year for fundraising. We set a goal last year of increasing extramural funding for the university. It is essential. We cannot depend upon state funding exclusively. You can't depend upon school tuition. So we have made significant progress. We've got to do more and raise more money, but we've made some progress. For example, in the annual fund, we set a goal this year of $200,000. To date, we have raised $204,292.77 and we still have three weeks to go, so we have exceeded that goal. And one of the remarkable things about that 200,000 plus is that 121 of our 268 university employees contributed to that fund. That's 45 percent of our faculty and staff contributed to the annual fund, which is used primarily for scholarships, and that is remarkable. It's one of the highest percentages in the Southeast. In the faculty meeting this past August, I complimented the faculty and staff for that, for the support they've shown the university for their contributions. Also we worked hard at increasing grants. And on the handout you have, if you'll look on page four, you will see a little over $1.2 million grants that we received last year and some of them are continuing into this year. Some of them are renewable. But if you will look through there if there are any particular questions on any of those grants or what they're for, I will gladly, you know, answer those. But if you take the $200,000 plus that the annual fund has raised and the $1,254,159 raised through the grants and then you add the 100,508.00 from athletics, we have raised 1,558,959.70 and we've got to do better this year and we're working particularly on grants. Very, very active on increasing the kinds of grants and the numbers of grants. But do you have any questions on any of those on that sheet?
MR. MINUS: Do we have individual grant writers or do you have a consultant that does that? I see the Upward Bound program is the biggest and I under -- does Ms. Sprueill do that herself?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct. We do that in-house.
MR. MINUS: And that's all federal money?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct. And almost all of these are done in-house.
MR. MINUS: These grants like your Upward Bound, I'm just using it. It's the largest. Is that something new or is that something we've always had all along?
DR. HOLLAND: We've had that for a number of years. And when this program was evaluated last year, we got one of the highest rankings in the Southeast for the success of our programs. It deals with the students in the area schools and they spend summers here and then certain enrichment exercises.
MR. MINUS: Any of this amount other than the amount of money that you've raised in these grants, is any of it new money?
DR. HOLLAND: New money? Well, for example, look at the top on this first one. Child care, that's that 51,000 we were talking about plus and that's going to be continued for two years. So I assume that that's new as far as that program.
MR. MINUS: Yeah. That's what I'm saying.
DR. HOLLAND: And student support services continues. The BellSouth grant is new. That's to address some of this No Child Left Behind legislation. Upward Bound is a continuing program for first generation students and disadvantaged students enrolled in the institution. Small business development center, that's continuing. That's how we fund most of that center. AIDT training was for work force development where we've conducted two fast track classes and so forth.
MR. SMITH: Richard, what does the Upward Bound program do? Tell me a little bit about that.
DR. HOLLAND: The -- Upward Bound, we have two counselors who work with probably ten different high schools in this area and those -- our counselors work with high school counselors to identify students who have potential to be successful in college, but perhaps the school that they're located in, there are certain deficiencies in that program. So those students, -- and right now we have about 35 involved in it -- they come to the campus in the summer for about an eight-week enrichment course. We have people in our English department who teach them and biology and so forth. And then periodically throughout the school year they come here and they spend Saturdays here on campus for different events. Then when they finish their high school, they're eligible to enroll anywhere in state schools and we keep quite a few of them in this area. But others, you know, might go off to other schools. But it's a way to go back into the high schools and try to correct some of the deficiencies there by exposing them --
MR. SMITH: Has it been a successful program?
DR. HOLLAND: Uh-huh, it's been very successful. And the student support service program is the same way. Those students -- and there's certain criteria that they have to meet. One particularly is they're first generation or they have a financial need and then we provide tutors for them. We provide special classes for them to make up those deficiencies. And those students had the highest graduating rate of any group of students in the university because I think it's just that one-on-one tutoring. Vicki Sprueill stays on top of that and administers it very, very well. Any other questions about any of those grants? The next item is the Vianet agreement. The Vianet is an interactive video system that is statewide and we have an agreement with University of North Alabama, their college of business. There are certain courses that they teach on their campus and simultaneously teach on our campus. And likewise on our campus Dr. Bazyari in our college of business is teaching a statistics course at the same time it's beeing taught on their campus. And believe it or not, the students in those courses do better than those in regular classes. I never would have believed it, but the tests show that that's true. This is a model program because it's sharing resources between the universities. We have an agreement with North Alabama that from this point on when they hire business professors we're going to work with them so that they hire people who have credentials that we need. For example, right now they do not have anyone on their staff who has a doctorate in statistics. Dr. Bazyari on our campus does and so they're sharing him. And they teach certain courses, for example, in auditing and accounting on their campus and teach it on our campus because we do not have a professor with the credentials to teach it. But rather than have to go out and try to find someone or hire someone just for that, we just share professors. And one thing that's grown out of this is that we're waiting now on ACHE approval, but we want to offer an MBA program on our campus with North Alabama. They're already approved to offer such a course and we have faculty who are qualified to teach 50 percent of the courses. So using Vianet -- and also there are certain courses that their faculty will have to come down here and spend two days and teach year. But this is something that we have -- there's a
18 need for an MBA program, but to get an MBA program fully approved through ACHE would take years and we don't have the faculty for that. But this way we can share resources and share the degree. It's a tremendous opportunity for us.
DR. OLIVEIRA: The University of Alabama wouldn't share resources with you?
DR. HOLLAND: Now we do, but not through the college of business. There are certain courses -- certain language courses, for example, that they teach for our students and vice versa. We meet with them twice a year when they're putting -- when Alabama is putting their catalog of
courses together and if there are courses that we need, they offer them or if we have some on our campus then we teach them there.
DR. OLIVEIRA: But they don't have an MBA course that they could share with us?
DR. HOLLAND: No. The next item is the Regional Center for Community of Economic Development which was established in June of 2003. This is to assist with the coordination of regional development efforts and to facilitate the use of university resources in the region. We're trying to focus on development of this region and also trying to cut out duplication. And I gave you their newsletter that they publish. We established this office and started this office through a special line item that we received last year in our budget for job development, work force. And we have reason to believe that's going to continue, but this office is also charged with raising monies to fund itself in the future. Most of the efforts recently have been going into health care. We've been working with a number of federal agencies and state agencies on grants and so forth to address rural health care needs. And James Mock, who is the director for this center, and Sequentin Thompson is the assistant director. And it is amazing how much traffic this office is getting. It's incredible, but this is something we should have been doing years ago. Getting involved in this community, we work specifically with and they are listed on the sheet, the West Alabama Regional Alliance made of five counties and that alliance looks at economic development, work force development, and tourism. And this office is serving as their headquarters and the alliance pays our center to operate their alliance, which is a good arrangement. And we've also been working very closely with the commission on the future of east Mississippi, west Alabama, working on some grants particularly related to the development of this possible industrial park south of here so that we're working with them through this office. Any questions on that? The next item is our marketing plan. Last year one of our goals was to tell the world about our institution. We knew then and now that we have a very unique institution and that we make the difference in the lives of the people in this area. The search and surveys indicated that we do a very good job. 89 percent of the people we talked to who knew us said we did a very good job. The problem, very few people know us. That's what we found out. So we set about developing a marketing plan and you see on pages five through seven some of our activities with billboards and magazines and internets -- the internet and television. We're running commercials now on WTOK. We're going to sponsor their community calendar. We're running ads in newspapers throughout the region and some statewide, radio spots, promotional videos, and then a number of public relations activities like partnerships and luncheons with educators. That's continued on page seven. And then if you look on page eight, this is an e-mail that Barry sent me, I think, on Thursday that shows use of the internet advertising on al.com for the month of August and it shows -- look at the number of impressions. That is the number of people who hit our logo to find out something about the university. Over half a million impressions in the month of August alone and then 143 of those clicked through our web page. We've also sponsored on that a contest that's called Ultimate Go West Sweepstakes where we give away t-shirts and caps and all of UWA and we've had a number of people, you know, apply for that sweepstakes. The main thing, look on the middle of the page where it's the words in bold. It says overall in three months we have conducted on-line advertising we have gathered over two million impressions and over 1,600 people have visited our web site. So this can do nothing but help the image of the institution. In fact, what I have noticed just in the last two months is companies are now calling us to ask about certain grants, would we be interested in working with them on certain projects. So this is not only helping with recruiting students and enhancing our image in the state, it's going to enhance our image with donors and prospective foundations and so forth. At least they'll know who we are. Do you have any questions? And I can't answer too many questions on the marketing plan. I'm just very pleased with what it has done so far.
MR. SPREE: Barry is doing a good job?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes, she does. The next item is distance learning. We have an agreement with Columbia Southern University, which is an internet university. It's located in Orange Beach, but they have 12,000 students world wide that they instruct through the internet. And this once again goes back to the image of the institution. They came to us last year and said that they wanted to partner with an institution, a brick and mortar institution, as they called it, such as ours that had a reputation in education and they wanted us to offer graduate courses on line for them and this has been a very productive relationship. Our faculty are teaching the courses. The students enrolled in this program are our students. They meet our requirements. The tuition that we charge the student, part of it is paid back to Columbia Southern because they are doing the marketing world wide. They have a very large program with Doctaes, which is the military internet program, and we're beginning to participate more and more in that through their efforts because they handle that part. And then a portion of the tuition goes to pay our instructors to do this because that was one of the problems. You know, when you ask someone teach a course of 30 students on line which can consume you 24 hours a day and then you don't compensate them, you're not going to get too far. And then what we've done, we've taken some of the money from this and we're paying for the marketing program. So that this is a very good relationship with Columbia Southern University. Now the college of business by next summer they plan to offer their bachelor of business administration completely on line. There's a tremendous need for this degree particularly in the military and we have since last fall been requiring the faculty in the college of business to develop four courses a semester so that by the time we get to next summer all of their business courses can be taught on line. This, I think, will be a tremendous market for us and a tremendous opportunity by far. The next item we've already talked about, the child care development center. We officially opened this September 1. We are operating it from 7:30 in the morning until 5:30 for three and four year olds and then we have a program from 3:30 to 5:30, an after-school program, for children five through 12 and then a night program for children three through twelve and the night program starts at 5:00 o'clock and goes to 9:30 and that's primarily for students in our graduate program. This program is primarily for children of faculty, staff, students, and then if there are openings the community. As this develops, this, I think, is going to become a model program. It's addressing a need and it's particularly addressing a need for some of our students, on-campus students, who have small children particularly if they're on financial aid. There are federal agencies that pay for most of the child care cost. This will also greatly enhance our early childhood education program by the teaching experiences and we're going to require those students to do practicums in this program. So any questions on that? Some of us have already discussed this. The next item is enrollment and that's on page nine. This fall to date the grand total is 2,342. That is the highest enrollment in the history of the institution. In 1994, we had 2,320 students and so we have exceeded that. And if you'll go back and look, our undergraduate enrollment is 1,688. That's 4 percent higher than last year. 67 additional students. Our on-campus graduate school is 456. That's 86 more. 20 percent increase, in fact. And so our on-campus enrollment is 2,144 and then you add the CSU enrollment, which is 198, and there you see a total of 2,342. Notice the increase in the CSU. Last fall we had 11 students and this fall 198. So that can only continue to grow. The real good news as far as I'm concerned is down with beginning freshmen. We have 325 beginning freshmen, which is an increase of 50 over last year, and new transfers up by 16. Several people have asked why the increase in enrollment in particular with freshmen and so forth and there are many factors. Overall enrollment, retention rate is up. Then you have to give a great deal of credit to Mr. Buckalew and his staff for the work that they have been doing, tremendous work statewide. Someone else also asked me but why, what are you doing really, really different. Well one thing we are going statewide. We are working with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and they issue demographics each year of high school graduates and where there is an excess of high school graduates in the state. And so we still concentrate on our primary area and then we're going to places like Shelby County and Baldwin County where there are excess students. And someone asked me the other day well why in the world would you go to Shelby County. And I said well it's like John Dillinger. He said he robbed banks because that's where the money was. Well we're going to these counties because that's where students are and it's paying off. Not only do we have an increase in our freshmen enrollment, but there is an increase in the quality of those students. And if you stay on campus any time whatsoever, you sense that in this class. So this is good news, but we must continue it. We would like to get to 2,500 to 3,000 as some benchmark of stability. We know that we can do 2,500 within five years, but we're really going to try for 3,000 probably within ten years. As you know, that helps with the funding formula and so forth. It also just helps with an image of an institution that's growing and moving. That's very, very important. Any questions on the enrollment figure, though?
MR. KEAHEY: With retention being up, where has been the greatest loss on students? Freshmen and sophomores not returning over the years historically what has been the greatest loss of what class?
DR. HOLLAND: End of the freshmen year.
MR. KEAHEY: End of the freshmen year?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes. And that's the reason you have to concentrate on getting good students. There's a difference in just getting numbers and then the majority, I won't say the majority, but a significant number of those do not come back the sophomore year and so you're wasting an awful lot of time and energy getting them here. So you go and get better students and then you make certain that the experience here is worth while. Last week I started visiting and I'll finish it before the end of this semester. I'm going to two academic divisions a week and just sitting down and talking to those faculty about well, how is it going? How are your classes? What is it going to take to make certain that the students you have have a good experience and they want to continue here and, you know, come back the next year and all. That's what we're working on.
MR. KEAHEY: How did the freshmen class of 2002 look as compared to the freshmen class of 2001?
DR. HOLLAND: 2001 to 2002 --
MR. MINUS: Had 1,625 freshmen in 2001.
MR. KEAHEY: I'm talking about the retention rate.
MR. MINUS: Okay. I don't know that.
DR. HOLLAND: The retention rate, I don't know the specific numbers, Bobby, but they're better this year. We had more of them return.
MR. KEAHEY: Higher percentage of last freshmen --
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct. -- this year than the 2001 freshmen?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes. And, you know, there's a multiplier number in this that if students come here and they have a good experience and then they go back to their high schools and they talk that up, then you get more from that high school. I mentioned to you that the other day I went into the new China restaurant uptown, the China Dragon or whatever it is, and sitting in a table in that restaurant there were 14 kids from Fruitdale High School and they were freshmen and sophomores and juniors and seniors and when you talk to them about why you're here well my friend is here and they had a good experience. And many of them, of course, are in the band and that recruiting there. When you find a place where students can come and have a home within the university, that builds those numbers.
MR. MINUS: Excuse me, Dr. Holland. I was looking at our enrollment figures. Talk to me about the CSU graduates. Are we making any money? Do we generate any revenue from that?
DR. HOLLAND: The funds from that, we have to pay CSU a fee per student and I don't recall exactly what that is. And then we have to pay our own instructors for teaching that and then what money we have made, which is not that much, we've put into the marking plan. That's what's paying for all that TV time and newspapers.
MR. MINUS: I got you. I understand you. So the 187 students we've got at -- in CSU graduate is not really generating any income for the university?
DR. HOLLAND: Other than paying the marketing plan.
MR. MINUS: I understand. Well, that's --
DR. HOLLAND: That's significant, yeah, because there's no other way to do it.
MR. MINUS: Okay. On the graduate level, we have a tremendous increase in graduates. It looks like about 20 percent from 349 to -- well, from 370 in 2002. I was looking at 2001. But anyway, it's a tremendous increase. Is that due to our efforts or the economy? These kids can't find jobs when they graduate and they're staying and getting their graduate degree or a combination of both or all and is it -- and is that a revenue measure for us? Do we make money off of graduate students?
DR. HOLLAND: Well, we're going to make more money this year off of them than we did last year obviously. The reasons why the numbers are up and you mentioned some of them. The economy. Historically when there's a downturn in the economy more people go back to school particularly graduate school. Secondly, this legislation, the No Child Left Behind and the question of what is a certified prepared teacher. And one thing that we have done, for example, we have gone to these different systems and their superintendents have to certify that their teachers meet the No Child Left Behind criteria or will meet them by 2005. And so what we did, for example, in Hale County talking with their superintendent over there he had 22 people who would not be qualified because they did not have enough math courses. So Judy Massey went over there last semester on a Monday night and taught them to certify them. So we're reaching out to find out where those approvals are. Another thing we have done is, you know, historically we used to teach graduate courses in Thomasville and in Monroeville and in Jackson and so forth and over the years we've closed all those programs. And the only one we have until the year before last was in Thomasville, but now we're back in Carollton. We're in Gilbertown. We're in Demopolis. We're teaching those courses there and that's what's bringing those numbers up.
MR. MINUS: Do we make any money? Are we making any money off of graduate students?
DR. HOLLAND: I'm sure we're making some. I don't know the exact amount.
MR. MINUS: Okay. And that tuition for graduate students is 850; is that right?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct.
MR. MINUS: Is that based on a per credit hour that they pay or whatever?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct.
MR. MINUS: All right. So let's go into the undergraduate figures. And as y'all know back before Dr. Holland took over the university we lost over 200 undergraduate kids and undergraduate kids are important to me because that's where your stream is. That's where your money comes from. And they've done a tremendous job here in -- when did you take over, March of 2000?
DR. HOLLAND: Yeah.
MR. MINUS: Okay. When Dr. Holland took over here in the year 2000, we had 1,595 undergraduates. That was the lowest that we've had since 1989. Now since he's taken over, we have increased that up to 1,688, which brings us back in line to about where we were in 1998. So we're trying -- he's recovered about half, maybe more than half of the undergraduate kids that we've lost during the previous administration for whatever the reasons. You know, I don't know what the reason is, but your undergraduate figures are just looking real, real good. I have one other question and I'm going back to the CSU graduates. Is that just a service we're offering, Dr. Holland?
DR. HOLLAND: Well, yes --
MR. MINUS: If we don't make any money off of it, is that just a service we offer?
DR. HOLLAND: It's a service we offer to those graduates. But if the numbers increase, we're going to start making some money.
MR. MINUS: Okay.
DR. HOLLAND: But also -- and this is not my world entirely. But education is moving into internet instruction. As you know already in the country, there are 150 institutions which offer B.S. degrees completely on line. Phoenix University is one of the most successful in the world and that's all they do. We had to move into this realm, but we did not have the marketing and that aspect to do it. Now we are also using this, though, to teach many of our courses, for example, in library media on line. We developed them, but we didn't have a way to market them and they're marking it for
us.
MR. KEAHEY: What kind of contract do we have with them?
DR. HOLLAND: Pardon?
MR. KEAHEY: What type contract do we have?
DR. HOLLAND: It's a contract for two degrees, masters of education and MSCE. One in counseling and one in guidance and counseling and it is for us to offer those courses. And the contract states that for so many students there is a certain fee we pay to CSU for the marketing part of it and the bookkeeping on their side. And realize now that many of these students are eligible for financial aid and so we handle all the financial aid for them and as I mentioned earlier they're our students. They meet our admission requirements. They're our instructors and so forth.
MR. KEAHEY: Is the scale on pay for the university increased with the more number of students?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes, but then there's a limit. We have a policy that says that an instructor can just teach so many students by internet and that's it. If not, what's happened in other institutions a professor might teach three classes, for example, in education that would have maybe 60 students in it and then they'll teach 130 internet because they pick up $30,000 a year that way. Well, obviously, there's a point in there that if you're doing too much internet, you're neglecting the other side of the university. So we monitor that closely and we have a contract with faculty that if you're going to teach in this program these are the things you must do to fulfill your regular responsibilities and then if you do these others we'll pay you this amount.
MR. SPREE: Dr. Holland, how is the dean of business doing?
DR. HOLLAND: Pardon?
MR. SPREE: The new guy we got.
DR. HOLLAND: Dr. Bazyari?
MR. SPREE: How is he doing?
DR. HOLLAND: Very well.
MR. SPREE: Is he meeting the needs of the students and requests of parents?
DR. HOLLAND: Well, to my knowledge that program is growing. I suppose more importantly, though, is the contacts that he has and has brought to us from the business community and the closeness we now have with Meridian, for example, that we have not had in the past and a lot of that is through his efforts. Not only that, just stop and think, our program in business is fully accredited. Do you remember five years ago when we were kind of wondering what to do? And he has brought with him and worked with others to bring like five faculty members who are credentialled. Two of them are in the process of getting their doctorates and they have a contract that if they don't get it a certain date, they're out. So he has built the program.
MR. SPREE: I was just wondering if he was responding to requests by parents and students.
DR. HOLLAND: I don't quite understand that. What are the requests from parents?
MR. SPREE: I was just wondering if you knew.
DR. HOLLAND: Well, I haven't heard any problems. But go back to if the program is growing and it's fully accredited and we have good working relations with the business community, I think he's doing his job. Is Mr. Watkins going to present something with the budget and then I'll just comment on that?
MR. WATKINS: I can. First let me say I'd like to commend you and your staff on the job that y'all have done. The enrollment numbers are looking real good. The accreditation results are outstanding. I wish that Sylvia Homan was here and Danny Buckalew was here so that we could congratulate them in person. I think that that probably would have been a pretty good idea if they had been here, but for whatever reason they're not.
DR. HOLLAND: Well, I can tell you where Sylvia is. She's at a conference and Danny's parents -- you know both of them are elderly and have problems.
MR. WATKINS: Well, if you would relay our congratulations.
DR. HOLLAND: He's with one of the -- I think he's with his mother while his sister takes the father to Birmingham, so.
MR. WATKINS: If you relay our congratulations to them for the job that they've done.
DR. HOLLAND: I will.
MR. WATKINS: At first blush, you would look at the increase in enrollment numbers, particularly undergraduate, and think that we're going to have a whole lot more money to use toward our budgeting process. Unfortunately we've had 87 out-of-state tuition students who have now been granted in-state status. So where we had 87 students that were paying double tuition, we now have -- really we've got a loss. The increase in enrollment in the graduate school helps to make up for some of that deficiency. But nonetheless, not only do we not have any additional funding available due to the increase in enrollment, we've actually lost due to the 87 out-of-state tuition students who are now in-state.
MR. KEAHEY: What's the dollar figure on that?
MR. WATKINS: Our net loss, I think, is down to about -- by calculating in the graduate student increase, we're -- we have a net reduction of income of $1,379. Ordinarily we would have had -- this is by the semester. We've had 66 and that was the number he was using at the time additional undergraduate students we would have had an increase in funding less a 6 percent bad debt reserve of 95,000. Unfortunately, the 88 or 89 or 87 students less the reserve cost us $126,000. So we lost around 31, 32, but we picked up around 30 in graduate fees for a net loss of $1,379.
MR. MINUS: Nat, what happens to -- I don't know where those 89 kids were, but I bet you they were mainly in athletics.
DR. HOLLAND: 86 of them.
MR. MINUS: Oh, okay. That would be pretty close. All right. What happens -- bear with me now, okay. We give football X number of dollars for scholarships. All right. He uses those scholarships based on last year's figures of out of state tuition $6,000. What happens to that $3,000 that we have budgeted to them last year? Do you understand what I'm saying.
MR. WATKINS: I understand exactly what you're saying?
MR. MINUS: Okay. Is that money we can use or is that money we're gone leave with the athletic department to increase their number of scholarships for athletes? Has anybody decided what we're going to do? If you've got 87 of them and you're saving three grand a piece, you still have generated 87 times $260,000.
MR. WATKINS: I don't know if Dr. Holland can respond to that or not.
DR. HOLLAND: Yeah. I've had long discussions with the coaches on this. And you already know where our program ranks in the conference in the number of scholarships we have. We're at the bottom. And this out-of-state tuition reduction has enabled them to take those monies where they were giving some students half a scholarship, now they can give them two because they've got that money. In the past where they did not have the money for a book voucher, now they can do that.
MR. MINUS: So we're using that money by increasing the scholarships for the athletes?
DR. HOLLAND: Or increasing -- yeah, to individuals or more athletes are getting scholarships.
MR. MINUS: Okay. I know we were way low based on the Gulf South average and the Gulf South's allotment on how many you can have in each sport we were low. We were considerably low on each sport; is that not correct?
DR. HOLLAND: Well, across the board. That's the main reason I mentioned to you earlier I'm going to appoint a committee. I'm probably going to ask Gary Rundells to chair it or someone like that of just coaches to look at those particular problems and make some recommendations to me and the athletic director or how we can become more competitive. But the basic way is yeah, we need half a million dollars, but that's not going to happen. So how do we within the funds we have or other ways get those numbers up.
MR. MINUS: Are the coaches gone -- is the athletic director or you or somebody setting some kind of accountability or standards for these coaches? Are they saying okay, you know, here's another $250,000 for scholarships? And I'm bad at math, but that's basically what we're talking about. Where is your program going to be two years from now? What do you think? Now you understand if your program is not there in two or three years, we're gonna get somebody who can put it there? Has that been explained to these people?
MR. HOLLAND: That's what this committee is all about.
MR. MINUS: But how are you gonna get the result if your committee is composed of coaches?
DR. HOLLAND. Well no, no. But they're only making recommendations. You know, and then once they get -- until you get something in writing in front of you, then you just can't really respond. But they are the pros, so let's ask them and let their recommendations come forward. They're evaluated now, but they're not evaluated on the criteria you just mentioned.
MR. MINUS: I'm not saying do that. I'm just saying --
DR. HOLLAND: No. I think you should.
MR. MINUS: But I don't understand, Dr. Holland, how -- I could give you that report today to if you'd like. You don't have to wait on the coaches.
DR. HOLLAND: No. Now you remember now I haven't had much time to do this. I've been solving other problems like enrollment and grants and so forth. Give me some time to shift gears and look at that in depth and I just have not had time.
MR. MINUS: But your plans are right now in the budget is to put what money into those athletic programs?
MR. MINUS: Exactly because they're already on bottom.
MR. MINUS: Yeah. I understand. I don't think somebody would object.
DR. HOLLAND: And once again, once you divide it out over all of the sports and any one sport there's just not that money to deal with.
MR. MINUS: Football is going to take most of it.
DR. HOLLAND: Based on the number of scholarships they currently have, that's correct.
MR. MINUS: I just would hope that you, as our president, would put some accountability standards in here for these coaches even if it came from the coaches.
MR. SPREE: I've got a comment to that or a question or whatever. Does Dee Outlaw, does he intermingle or correspond or talk to the athletic committee?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes.
MR. SPREE: The Board, does he ever --
DR. HOLLAND: I don't know about the Board. The athletic committee has been meeting, the university athletic committee.
MR. SPREE: I'm talking about
this Board. Does he have any contact with us? Do you?
DR. HOLLAND: With that committee?
MR. SPREE: With the athletic committee of the Board.
DR. HOLLAND: No.
MR. SPREE: That's what I thought.
DR. HOLLAND: Are you chairman of that committee?
MR. SPREE: Supposed to be.
DR. HOLLAND: Did you call and ask me to get with you or discuss an issue?
MR. SPREE: Well, I talked to him, but he just -- it's kind of a one-way street, you know.
DR. HOLLAND: No. Call and we'll talk.
MR. MINUS: Okay.
MR. WATKINS: We've got to address some shortfalls in revenue specifically around $192,000 increase health insurance premium cost for the faculty and the staff, which will bring that total increase over about the past three years to half a million dollars, all of which has been absorbed by the -- by our budget without passing any of it on to any of the faculty and staff. $26,000 estimated increased utility cost. Faculty promotions, longevity, enhanced credentials, $70,439. Staff longevity and equity, $55,364. And then there's a factor that would have to be -- if tuition is increased, there's got to be a factor in there for scholarships, athletic as well as recruiting scholarships. Additionally, the administration has requested some increased spending, which y'all have all seen this document. I believe we reviewed it in the past meetings. There are a number of items all of which are fairly small but total $70,015. These are items that we must talk about and additionally tomorrow there's going to be a very, very big vote taken. And if the poling numbers are correct, then we're going to have a much more substantial problem Wednesday than we do today and that could take the form of proration, decreased funding to the tune of around, you know, you can hear anything from 350 to $375,000. So as you can see, we have some very substantial financial problems. We've got to address and discuss and figure out how we're going to do it. The administration has proposed a 10 percent tuition and fee increase to cover all of the items that I just discussed other than proration. And in talking with Raiford, I believe the total figure in the event that the vote tomorrow is in the negative would be somewhere around 16 and a half to 17 percent tuition increase to cover proration as well as the additional revenues that the administration would like to see raised. So that's the issue and that's what we need to talk about I think.
MR. MINUS: Nat, help me with your addition over there, okay.
MR. WATKINS: I'm not a very good mathematician.
MR. MINUS: I understand.
DR. OLIVEIRA: I'd really like to see a further breakdown of how money is really spent from the top to bottom, where the money is and where it's going. That's what a budget looks like to me.
MR. WATKINS: Let me say this. There's not a -- as I understand it in my discussions with Mr. Noland, there's no way that they can really --
DR. OLIVEIRA: Prepare a budget.
MR. WATKINS: Right. Number one, we haven't been funded yet by the legislature. Number two, we don't have any idea what's going to happen for sure tomorrow. Number three, we don't know what the legislature is going to do in the event of a negative vote. Are they going to raise taxes? They say they're not. Are they going to slash spending? They say they are. In what form is that going to take and how is it going to effect higher education and as a sub part of that how is it going to affect the University of West Alabama, the smallest state-supported school.
MR. MINUS: You know what worries me, Nat, about the -- we are 300 roughly 75,000 if the tax package doesn't pass. What happens -- y'all help me here. Didn't Governor Riley commit to Paul Hubbard that they would retain all of the K through 12 schoolteachers?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct.
MR. MINUS: So what happens when we go -- what do we normally get, 28 percent, 29 percent of the education budget?
DR. HOLLAND: Uh-huh.
MR. MINUS: Well, how much -- wasn't it like $160 million for those school teachers? How much was it?
DR. HOLLAND: That's about right.
MR. WATKINS: It's substantial.
MR. MINUS: So what -- and nobody sitting in this room doesn't realize that Paul Hubbard is the strongest education lobbyist over there. If this tax package does not pass tomorrow, I think it's because people's reservation about that. But anyway, what happens to us if we go in over there and the first thing we've got to do is recover the $160 million that the governor has promised Dr. Hubbard. Well where is that coming from? If they don't raise taxes, it's coming from higher ed. So we're not gonna get our 28, 29 percent. We're gonna get 26 or 27 percent. So we're not looking at 375,000. We're looking at 525,000. It's so many variables that we're just not going to know what to do until number one, the vote takes place tomorrow; number two, the legislature meets and appropriates our budget. I hope they'll do that. I think the drop dead date for the Board to pass a budget is like October 15th. Is that right, Nat?
MR. WATKINS: I believe we can operate for about two weeks after October 1.
MR. MINUS: Money year starts.
DR. HOLLAND: And from what I understand, the legislate is going to go into session the 15th through the 19th.
MR. SMITH: On Monday.
DR. HOLLAND: Starting next Monday. So on the 19th, we'll know something.
MR. MINUS: Well then, Dr. Holland, if we are in recess --
DR. HOLLAND: Well, we'll have two weeks to get a budget together.
MR. MINUS: Yeah. And we have to give a ten-day notice?
DR. HOLLAND: You have nine days.
MR. WATKINS: I don't know. Do you have to give a ten-day notice to re --
MR. MINUS: Well, the bylaws say ten days on the normal deal, you know, with the agenda. But then we have -- when we started recessing, there's in there a seven-day notice to reconvene after recess so I don't know which one. I guess you'd be all right on either one.
MR. KEAHEY: Well, do we need to tend to that before we leave here today? MR. MINUS: I've got a couple of suggestions I have written down and I've talked to everybody about it. I'm laying it out there. I'm saying I want Dr. Holland to understand. I'm just laying it out there and we'll see where we go. And everybody understands that we can't act on a budget until the legislature appropriates the money. Don't you agree to that, Dr. Holland?
DR. HOLLAND: Yes, because you can't plan. Because from my understanding, there will be drastic cuts. And another complication is that the special education trust fund has missed its mark drastically. Funds are way down, so the governor bases his budget on the trust fund having a certain amount of money and it's just not there. He said it will be 3 percent short. I heard last week it's going to be 8 percent or maybe higher.
MR. MINUS: You're saying if the tax package fails, we're going to be $375,000 short plus up to 8 percent? Is that what you just said?
DR. HOLLAND: That's correct.
MR. MINUS: Plus we're gone make up $160 million that we've got to pay Dr. Hubbard for his schoolteachers. All right. Anyway, let's get started hereIf y'all don't like this --
MR. KEAHEY: Is there any other universities that have adopted a budget?
DR. HOLLAND: Well yes and no. A number of institutions have adopted two budgets, one going on the belief that we'll just have a small deficit and therefore go back to the governor's budget. For example, Montevallo passed their budget with 11 percent. And then on the outside if the referendum did not pass, they passed an 18 percent increase in tuition, so they've passed two budgets.
MR. MINUS: So they've already acted?
DR. HOLLAND: They've already
acted, but they might have to come back because the cuts might be deeper. The trust fund might not been there, but many institutions have done this and many institutions have agreed to reconvene and look at the budget after the 19th of September.
MR. KEAHEY: Well haven't their students paid their tuition? MR. HOLLAND: Yes. But, for example, with our students, I wrote them in September -- I mean July. I met with all the orientation groups and the parents and discussed the situation and told them we were looking at anywhere from a 10 to 18 percent increase depending on what happened on the state level. We'll just have to collect that and we can rebill them, you know, once we make that decision. They need to know that up front, so.
MR. WATKINS: I think that -- and this has really already been covered. But I think what's gone be proposed is that we look at as far as a budgeting process. Take last year's budget and incorporate the increased expenditures and provide for raising additional revenue by tuition increase. Is that a fair statement?
DR. HOLLAND: That's about -- right now that's the only option we have.
MR. WATKINS: So yes I am through.
MR. SMITH: How many faculty members do we have now, Richard?
DR. HOLLAND: There are 97 or 98 full time and then we have a number of part time and adjunct, so we go up to about 114 when you add part time and full time. We have a total faculty and staff of 260.
MR. MINUS: Is that part-time staff, part-time faculty or --
DR. HOLLAND: Full time. Those are full-time positions.
MR. SMITH: So it's 97 full-time faculty?
DR. HOLLAND: Yeah. And it's -- you know, we're at a catch-22 situation here. We're growing. We're trying to meet the needs of the university and the community and it's very difficult to look at cutbacks and all because it's going to cripple us, so you have to sort of balance this. And I know people are always talking about waste. Listen people. We live on a shoe string. I tell ya there's not waste that I'm aware of or not great amounts of it. You know, in some situations you waste more time and effort trying to find $10 than it's worth. But when you look at what you do as a small institution and what we offer, it's remarkable how we go get by on what we do. MR. MINUS: Well, I'm going to turn the gavel back over to Mr. Watkins and I'm going to have two motions here for Dr. Holland's benefit. And again, that's what they are. Y'all can change them. You can vote them down. You can agree with them. It's just something for us to start with, okay, with the understanding that I agree with Dr. Holland that we're not going to be able to do anything until the legislature appropriates the money. Okay. The Board of Trustees directs that the president of the University of West Alabama insure that the budget for the University of West Alabama for the fiscal year of October 1 of 2003 through September 3rd of 2004 include the following: Number one, the increase in cost of providing medical insurance for all employees presently covered by medical insurance shall be bourn by the university. Number two, the university shall pay the proposed increases in salary to faculty members for longevity, promotion, and enhanced credentials. Number three, remove approximately $250,000 of our reserve account at the University of West Alabama over to the general fund account. Number four, request through whatever channels necessary and ask for authorization to take $250,000 of our auxiliary accounts and put back into our general account replacing the reserve that we moved over. Number five, eliminate from the budget $24,000 allocated for lobbying fees. Number six: The Board asks the president to reduce the equivalent of 1 and a half percent or $250,000 from the overall university's budget. Let me explain that. Our overall budget is approximately $17 dollars. That includes everything: federal money, fees, food, dormitories, everything. If we base it on actual state funds that are coming into us, that 1.5 would be around 2.9 percent as long as y'all understand the difference there. The president may use his discretion as to what departments will be taxed with the budget reduction and the amount of such reduction. The Board urges the president to reduce administrative and staff budgets as opposed to faculty budgets if at all possible. Number seven, the university is directed to freeze the employment of all staff where there is an existing vacancy or if a vacancy occurs. Number eight, to prohibit the use of university vehicles by administrators, staff, and faculty for personal use which shall include transportation between employee's home and the University of West Alabama's campus. The exception of that would be the president. We have a contract with the president and he has vehicles to be used at his discretion.
MR. KEAHEY: Is there anybody else with a like contract?
DR. OLIVEIRA: Doesn't the guy that's over this thing have a contract, too?
MR. MINUS: I don't know.
DR. HOLLAND: Pardon?
DR. OLIVEIRA: The guy that does this, does he have a contract vehicle?
DR. HOLLAND: Does he have a contract --
DR. OLIVEIRA: I mean, a contracted vehicle, you know, the guy that's over this. Would he have --
DR. HOLLAND: No. He has use of a motor pool car whenever he has --
DR. OLIVEIRA: So when he comes to work, he gets a motor pool?
DR. HOLLAND: Oh, yeah. He doesn't take a state car home.
MR. MINUS: Number nine, to report to the Board the implementations of the above adopted budget changes. The president is encouraged to implemement such other cost-saving practices appropriate to the end of the budget of the University of West Alabama is redeemed in such a manner that a tuition increase for the students of the University of West Alabama may not be needed.
DR. HOLLAND: May not be what?
MR. MINUS: Needed. Is there any discussion? I'll move first passage of the resolution.
MR. WATKINS: Is there a second?
MR. SMITH: I'll second it.
MR. WATKINS: Now discussion? I've got a point of clarification, I think. We don't actually have a reserve account. So when you say remove $250,000 from our reserve account and put it in the general fund, it is in the general fund already.
MR. MINUS: I understand.
MR. WATKINS: We do have auxiliary accounts and my understanding is that it would declare an emergency, financial emergency, that -- and I don't know if this is true, but I believe that this is correct that we can then transfer money from our auxiliary accounts into our general fund for a limited time for limited purposes. So actually what -- to clarify, I think, if you're motion would read that we would expend up to $250,000 of funds in our general account that we've been keeping as 5 percent reserve. I don't know how you would work it to be honest with you.
MR. MINUS: Does everybody know what I was trying to do?
DR. OLIVEIRA: Yes.
MR. SMITH: Absolutely.
MR. MINUS: And I understand, Nat, we don't have a specific account set over there called reserve account, so --
MR. WATKINS: Well, leave it like you've got it. I think we all understand what you're talking about. I was just trying to clarify we don't actually have an account, separately maintained account, called a reserve account where we've got money. It's all held together in a common fund balance. We voted sometime back to endeavor to maintain a 5 percent -- I can't remember exactly how they worded it, fund balance for a reserve fund to apply with NACUBO standards and that's what we've endeavored to do and I believe we've accomplished that. We currently have around 750, $770,000 that is not budgeted. That's one way to do it.
MR. KEAHEY: How long do we have to put that money back in if we take it out?
MR. WATKINS: If we can take it out and we can spend it, we're going to be below the recommended 5 percent of NACUBO itself. But the motion also provides that 250 is going to be coming from auxiliary and then put back in there, so that's not a problem. And I don't know the answer to the question about how long we have to put it back into auxiliary.
MR. MINUS: But that is not a requirement. It is a recommendation that we stay liquid by 5 percent, but it is not a requirement.
DR. HOLLAND: Well, it is of accreditation.
MR. MINUS: Okay. I want to read about what Mr. Watkins said about that the number one priority of the Board in the future will be to achieve and recommended maintain a 5 percent fund balance as by NACUBO and that the administration and the Board will continue to look at all areas of the budget for savings. The salary increases in the future including promotions, longevity, enhanced credentials, step raises, and merit raises will be subject to the approval of the Board based on the physical condition of the university and that in the future faculty and staff may be asked to share in insurance cost increases based on the physical condition of the university. That was done on August the 27th, 2001. That's what we -- I know you wasn't here at that time, but that's what we directed the previous administration to please tell and that did pass unanimously.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Minus, a point of clarification. Does what you propose -- and as I said earlier, I'm not a very good mathematician. Does what you proposed cover everything that we need to cover?
MR. MINUS: That's a good question. I have no idea.
DR. HOLLAND: I don't think.
MR. MINUS: Do you know what we need?
MR. WATKINS: Well, as I understand your motion, we're taking out I --
MR. MINUS: I've got another
motion, you know, that's gone come --
MR. WATKINS: Let me just make sure that the Chair understands your motion.
MR. MINUS: Okay.
MR. WATKINS: The insurance increase in our health insurance premium would be bourn by the University in full.
MR. SMITH: As it has been in the past.
MR. MINUS: That's 192,000?
MR. WATKINS: 192,000 without any passing through to the faculty or staff.
MR. MINUS: Okay.
MR. WATKINS: The faculty promotions, longevity, and enhanced credentials would be budgeted.
MR. MINUS: How much is that?
MR. WATKINS: $262,439.
MR. SMITH: That's faculty increases?
MR. WATKINS: What I've added there is the 192,000 for the increase in health insurance premium and the 70,439 for the faculty promotions and services.
MR. MINUS: Okay. Now add your 350 or 375, whatever they say.
MR. WATKINS: Let's just go with 375.
DR. HOLLAND: Did you include the staff longevity in that?
MR. MINUS: No, no, huh-uh.
MR. WATKINS: This motion, Dr. Holland, did not include the staff longevity. Adding 375 to that results in $637,439 potential revenue that we need to raise.
MR. MINUS: Okay. So we're going to move over 250. All right. We've asked that we look at 250,000 in cuts and we've removed the lobbying job at 24,000. So how much does --
MR. WATKINS: Leaves us short $113,000.
MR. MINUS: Okay. I have one other motion.
MR. WATKINS: Well, we've got a motion and a second.
MR. MINUS: Oh, go ahead. We've got to vote on that.
MR. WATKINS: Is there any further discussion?
DR. OLIVEIRA: Yes.
MR. WATKINS: Yes, ma'am.
DR. OLIVEIRA: The health care, does it increase the co-pay or is it a lot of state employees the co-pay is increased.
MR. WATKINS: As I understand it.
DR. OLIVEIRA: They aren't going to have more of a co-pay?
MR. MINUS: Doesn't change a singe thing that they're--
MR. SMITH: It's the same thing they've had, Doris, with just this big increase.
MR. WATKINS: What happened, Dr. Oliveira, is that we had some fairly dramatic payouts that we had to make and now they're making up for it. Then there was also going to be an increase anyway. But that's what happened. It's not going to affect their coverage in any way. It's just that we're having to pay under our contract an additional $192,000 in premiums. Any further discussion? There's motion and a second. No further discussion. All in favor to the motion say aye.
ALL MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. WATKINS: All opposed? Motion carries.
MR. MINUS: I have one other motion, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WATKINS: All right, Mr. Minus.
MR. MINUS: The Board of Trustees adopts the following resolution: The president of the University of West Alabama is directed to ensure that in the budget for the University of West Alabama for fiscal year October 1, 2003 through September 30th, 2004 that a cap be placed on the salaries of all staff and administrators with the exception of the president and provost so that no staff members or administrator other than the president and provost shall be paid a salary which exceeds the average salary of the five academic deans of the University of West Alabama.
MR. WATKINS: There is a motion on the floor. Is there a second?
MR. DUKE: Second.
MR. WATKINS: There is a second by Mr. Duke. Discussion? This motion will be by role call. I'll start with Dr. Oliveira.
DR. OLIVEIRA: I agree.
MR. WATKINS: All right. We have a yes. Mr. Minus?
MR. MINUS: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Smith?
MR. SMITH: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Spree?
MR. SPREE: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Duke?
MR. DUKE: I.
MR. WATKINS: Mr. Keahey?
MR. KEAHEY: I.
MR. WATKINS: I vote no.
MR. MINUS: Okay. That's all I have, Nat.
MR. WATKINS: I'll return the Chair to Mr. Minus.
MR. MINUS: Okay. Any other items before the Board? Now I don't know exactly how much money the -- that's going to save by putting the cap on the staff's salaries. I don't really know how many because we haven't been privy to any salary figures. I don't know how many people that will effect. I don't know what the average of the five deans salaries are. But --
MR. DUKE: Can we get that information?
MR. MINUS: I will get it from Dr. Holland.
DR. HOLLAND: I can tell you if the staff equity was proportionate to promotional longevities and that's the formula you're looking at, probably 27 staff members, a total of $55,000. And so those 27 -- what you recommend is that those 27 staff members will not get increases.
MR. WATKINS: As I understand it, the original motion did not contain an increase for the staff.
MR. MINUS: Any staff.
MR. WATKINS: The second motion pegged everybody, all staff salaries other than the president and the provost at the average of the five deans, which my recollection is that that would be somewhere around 77,000, 78. Hold on just a minute. I can tell you. It's going to be around 75,000. I may be off.
MR. KEAHEY: I thought it was 75 or 80.
MR. MINUS: I don't know. Whatever it is, Dr. Holland will figure it out and let us know. Hopefully there'll be some savings there. But the motion, Dr. Holland -- and we're through now. Any other discussion? We stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.

C E R T I F I C A T E
STATE OF ALABAMA)
JEFFERSON COUNTY)

I hereby certify that the above and foregoing meeting was taken down by me in stenotype, and the material thereto was transcribed by means of computer-aided transcription, and that the foregoing represents a true and correct transcript of the meeting given by said members. I further certify that I am neither of counsel nor of kin to the parties to the action, nor am I in any way interested in the result of said cause.
____________________________
MARGO NETTLES BRYAN
My commission expires
May 4, 2004