The Board of Trustees celebrated trustee Peter Nicholas' $20 million gift to the School of the Environment in an otherwise uneventful meeting Dec. 8.
President Nan Keohane lauded Nicholas' generosity in her report to the board, which touched on several other awards and honors received by the University in recent months.
"This magnificent gift represents an exceptional statement of confidence in the faculty and leadership of the School of the Environment, and in the trustees' aspirations in our university," Keohane said to the board, which gave Nicholas a standing ovation at the start of the meeting.
Keohane also reported that operating costs for all divisions of the University are under control and that in the first four months of this fiscal year the University is operating at $4.2 million favorable to its budget.
In contrast to the festive atmosphere spurred by the Nicholas' gift, student government presidents Peggy Cross and Michael Tino gently criticized some aspects of the University and asked the board to consider its role in solving these problems.
In her address to the trustees, Duke Student Government President Cross called for an alternative to the "frustrating and rather uncertain way of funding [student activities]."
Emphasizing the role of student activities in fostering diversity and cultural awareness, Trinity senior Cross criticized the current funding process, which relies on the student activities fee and the discretionary funds of top administrators. Because student organizations request significantly more funding than is available, "the funding process is an antagonizing one," for students and those in charge of the funds, she said.
To solve this problem, Cross proposed a University-wide funding effort that would bring reliability to the funding process and legitimize student activities as equal to the classroom in students' education.
"We can no longer rely on increases in the student activities feeÉ We must create a larger, more effective funding mechanism," she said, adding that such a program would transform the process into a positive experience for students.
As a university striving to improve itself, "we cannot afford to string student activities along on a discretionary fund," she said.
Cross offered to involve students in a fund-raising process that would call upon alumni to give funds to groups that they were involved in as students. Creating connections and dialogue among past and present students would be an excellent opportunity for both to learn about the school and strengthen their ties to it, she said.
Graduate and Professional Student Council president Tino also addressed the board, taking issue with what he said were several "curious divisions" within the University that affect all graduate and professional students.
Tino, a third-year graduate student in cell biology, questioned the "`gauze curtain' that runs down Research Drive," which he said creates separate conditions for members of the University and members of the Medical Center, as well as the disparity in funding between graduate student departments.
And in what may have been a veiled reference to the Chapel's policy on gay unions, Tino asked the board to consider the University's distinction between the Chapel as an affiliate of the United Methodist Church and its role as a campus symbol and institution.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The Business and Finance committee reported that following a two-year audit by the Internal Revenue Service, the University expects to have to pay from $1 million to $2 million to the IRS.
The board also approved a proposal to dissolve the Duke University Risk Management fund handled by Wachovia Bank and shift these funds to an account handled by the Duke University Management Company, which board members said will allow for a more profitable handling of funds and will save on administrative and management costs paid to Wachovia.
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