May 2007

The Board of Trustees met the first week in May. Here are excerpts from President Hochstettler’s report to the board:

At the meeting of the Board on May 4 and 5, several important pieces of business will come before the Trustees. Please let me use this opportunity to highlight several of them.

1. Board of Trustees Quorum Rules


A change to the quorum rules in the Bylaws is being proposed that will make the Board Chair and the President voting members of all Committees except Audit, so that a quorum may be more readily achieved. At the same time, the rule change proposes that three voting members comprise a quorum in the future for all Committees except the Executive Committee and the Committee on Investments, further facilitating the achieving of a quorum. Because the Executive Committee and the Committee on Investments can act on behalf of the full Board, the rule of an absolute majority will remain in place for those two committees…;

2. The Educational Benefits of Diversity


The administration is requesting approval by the Board for a statement concerning the educational benefits of diversity that will endorse as a matter of institutional policy certain practices in the awarding of financial aid that encourage students of color to matriculate at the College. The United States Supreme Court has held that differential aid practices are legal so long as achieving diversity is an explicit educational goal of the institution. This statement is designed to establish diversity as an explicit educational goal for Lewis & Clark;

3. Templeton Campus Center Renovation


The administration is requesting endorsement of the Board for its plan aggressively to pursue facility planning and fund raising for the renovation of the Templeton Campus Center. Providing improved space for student life as well as appropriate facilities for all types of campus activities remains a high priority. Endorsement by the Board of this initiative will provide a powerful impetus to our efforts to raise funds for this important project that will benefit every member of the College community;

4. College Pension Change


During our ongoing consideration of equity in our salary and benefits policies, the issue has been raised that our lowest paid employees are in some instances disadvantaged by the structure of the very benefits that are designed to help them. Of particular concern is the fact that all employees of the College must contribute 2.5% of their pay toward their pension plan in order to receive the College’s contribution of 10%. Some employees in the lower pay categories find paying that 2.5% a hardship, and others do not participate in the pension plan at all so as to avoid the 2.5% deduction from their pay. The administration proposes to eliminate the 2.5% contribution so that all employees at all pay grades can participate in the pension plan. This move will also provide some cash relief for those employees for whom the 2.5% contribution is a hardship. The cost to the College of this change will be negligible;

In the pages of the Board Book you will find evidence of the growth in quality at Lewis & Clark and of our rising reputation in our community and beyond. In the Five-Year Financial Plan, you will also find evidence of an institution that is focusing its energies on stable and sustainable improvements in its academic and student life programs as we move forward in time. In the Goal Statements of the three schools, you will see a trend toward more proactive engagement on the part of the Deans in improving the academic program through greater efficiencies and through the redeployment of existing resources.

You will also see evidence that fund raising, although still not so robust nor aggressive as it needs to be, is gathering strength as the personnel and other resources are being developed that will move us toward greater efficiency and success in our efforts to inspire our donor community to provide the College the support it needs to thrive. At the Board meeting, I will provide an interim report on our efforts to hire a Vice President for Institutional Advancement who can galvanize our fund raising efforts.

If you have questions of comments concerning any items contained in this Board Book, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully submitted,
Thomas J. Hochstettler
President