Highlights - Washburn University Board of Regents November 11, 2005 Meeting
Political Considerations
Most of the Board's time at the November 11, 2005 Washburn University Board of Regents meeting was spent on various political considerations. The first two items were presented as part of the President's report. The third item was introduced as part of an introduction to the newest Board member, the Kansas Board of Regent's representative on the Board.
Heartland Park. 
Since this was not on the agenda, information regarding this Board action has been requested under the Kansas Open Records Act. It appears that Washburn University gave up its rights to approximately $8,000 in sales tax revenues. This foregone revenue will be utilized by Heartland Park to make bond payments. It was unclear as to why this action was necessary. It is even more unclear as to the legality of Washburn University's authority to "contribute" sales tax dollars collected on its behalf to another presumably "for-profit" organization.
College Hill Development. The developers presented an update on this project to the Board. More importantly, it seemed, was the introduction of a proposal to have Washburn University sell its property on contract to the developers. This would shift more risk to Washburn University, but there was some indication that it was premature to ascertain whether a contract would be necessary in order for the project to proceed.
TABOR. Action on a proposal to indicate the board's opposal to a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) was delayed, but only because of a specific request from a Regent that was absent from the meeting. Again, nothing was included in the agenda packet related to this action.
Employee Wellness Program
Having heard that the proposed Employee Wellness Program was an A+ program, like all other Washburn University programs, the Board approved funding of $180,000 from University reserves for this program. Funding will be provided for a new Director of Employee Wellness, educational seminars, health risk assessments and an incentive program.
Keep in mind that earlier this year the university discontinued faculty and alumni use of the Petro recreation facilities and began charging the faculty and staff a $12.50 per month use fee to use the new Student Recreation and Wellness Center. This same administration still has under consideration a proposal to close the swimming pool. Some inconsistencies with a serious focus on wellness, it seems.
Transformational Experience
Vice-President Wasserstein provided a summary of the Transformational Experience program recently approved by the Faculty Senate. There was no information shared regarding the faculty's concern with the original proposal or what was changed by the Faculty Senate. Also no information has been shared with the public regarding why this program, in addition to the $600,000 that has already been included in the operating budget, requires an additional $250,000-$300,000 over the next few years.
Although much has been made about the life-changing effect this will have on the students, no information has been provided regarding the additional burden this program may put on the faculty or academic administration.
This program will be considered by the General Faculty on December 8, 2005 prior to presenting it to the WU Board of Regents at their December 16, 2005 meeting.