Although the snow kept the Board of Trustees mostly out of commission during its last meeting in December, the rain did not stop the Board from considering a full plate of proposals at its meeting over the weekend--even if a power outage in the Trustees' planned retreat venue in Winston-Salem forced the Board to neighboring Greensboro.
The Board, which announced the formation of a search committee to find a successor to President Nan Keohane, who will step down in June 2004, also raised tuition, approved an addition to the Washington Duke Inn, reviewed the strategic plan after two years of implementation and considered the future of the plan's financial component.
Trustees increased the entire cost of tuition, fees, room and board by 5 percent for undergraduates enrolled in Trinity College and the Pratt School of Engineering. Tuition will increase by 5.4 percent from $27,844 to $29,345. The total cost to attend Duke, however, will be $37,555, including room and board.
The tuition increase, larger than last year's 3.9 percent increase, falls in line with a national trend of larger increases at top-ranked, private schools.
"We have worked hard to limit the increase in tuition and fees for students and their families, and we feel it falls toward the middle of the range of our peer institutions," Provost Peter Lange said in a statement.
Lange emphasized that the University would still honor its commitment to meet 100 percent of a student's demonstrated need in financial aid. Duke spent nearly $37 million for financial aid in 2002-2003, an increase of 8.3 percent from the prior year, and administrators expect that to rise above $40 million next year.
The Graduate School saw its tuition and registration fees rise by 10.9 percent to $26,610, part of a three-year push to increase tuition to pay for graduate stipend awards. Master's students, however, will see just a 2.8 percent increase. Other schools raised tuition at varying rates as well.
The Board approved the Washington Duke Inn's $25 million addition, which will provide 100 more rooms, space for conferences, meetings, a restaurant and a new grand ballroom.
A permanent business center, a new fitness center and an indoor swimming pool will be added as well. The project will take 14 to 16 months to complete.
Meanwhile, the Board gave preliminary approval to a 56,000-square-foot nursing school addition. The school has suffered from a space crunch since it began its accelerated bachelor's degree program last year.
The Board also preliminarily approved planning for Central Campus expansion and renovations. Executive Vice President Tallman Trask has called for reconstructing the campus' apartments, and working with developers to bring stores and restaurants and possibly a monorail system to the campus-a 20-year project that would cost almost $200 million and transform the space between East and West campuses.
In addition, the Trustees spent much of their time reviewing "Building on Excellence," the school's strategic plan adopted two years ago, examining both its funding in a time of economic uncertainty and its impact, intellectual progress and future challenges.
"The Trustees spent the first part of Friday, and most of [Saturday], on the strategic plan; they heard a full update from [Lange and Trask], and a specific presentation on funding the plan in the changed economic climate," President Nan Keohane wrote in an e-mail. "They were not asked to take any action, but just to give their reactions to the options we described for funding moving forward; it was mainly a 'heads up' or 'early warning system' in case the economy continues to stagnate."
Lange also presented to the Board a report on grade inflation originally planned for December's meeting.
The report states that grade inflation can be attributed in part to better-quality students and changes in the curriculum.
The Board also considered two administrative reviews, one on Lange himself, and another on Pratt School of Engineering Dean Kristina Johnson.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta provided graduate and professional students a chance to talk with Trustees about student issues, and residential life and housing services officials presented a report on the implementation of the new residential life plan that began last semester.
In addition to Keohane's announcement, Trustees considered several other leadership questions, including who will serve as chair of the Board following the end of Harold "Spike" Yoh's three-year term this summer.
Trustees also authorized a strategic partnership between the Fuqua School of Business and Seoul National University's College of Business Administration and allowed the school to file for government disaster relief following December's ice storm, during which the Sarah P. Duke Gardens sustained significant damage.
Dave Ingram contributed to this story.
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