Wednesday, Sept. 25, to Friday, Sept. 27, the College of William and Mary’s Board of Visitors convened at the School of Education for their first quarterly meeting of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Each of the board’s eight committees met to discuss matters pertinent to the College, with the full board meeting occurring Friday morning.
Subcommittee on Compensation
The board established the subcommittee on Compensation, which is under the Executive Committee. The subcommittee aims to propose a comprehensive process to be used for evaluating the performance of the presidents of both the College and Richard Bland College of William and Mary.
According to the subcommittee’s charter, as part of the evaluation process, the subcommittee will review the compensation of each president and recommend any changes to be ratified by the full board.
The subcommittee will also consult with the presidents on succession planning for executive officers, their evaluation and compensation.
Committee on Financial Affairs
Thursday, Sept. 26, the Committee on Financial Affairs convened to discuss two resolutions connected to the College’s 2023 six-year plan. Resolution 1 concerned the College, and Resolution 2 addressed the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Both resolutions were proposed last academic year, with revisions submitted this session in advance of the vote. The board passed both resolutions at the meeting.
The committee opened with a review of the FY25 operating budget. Sixty-six percent of the College’s budget comes from tuition and fees, 15% from state funding, and the remaining 19% from private funds, grants and other sales and services.
Forty-three percent of the budget directly supports education and the student experience, 24% covers auxiliary services, 12% covers financial aid and the remaining 21% covers institutional support, plant operations, research and other expenses.
Committee Chair C. Michael Petters MBA ’93 raised concerns about the amount being spent on financial aid, suggesting the College should invest more than it currently does. Petters also suggested the establishment of benchmarks to compare spending against that of other public universities, with the goal of validating budget efficiency claims.
Former Virginia senator and board member Thomas K. Norment, Jr. J.D. ’73 added that the state provides too little money for financial aid, calling for increased funding.
Revisions to Resolution 1 reaffirmed the Board’s previous commitments. These include growing Pell Grant eligibility, investing in computational, data and applied sciences, internships and career outcomes, campus infrastructure upgrades, and preparing for the College’s role in the nation’s 250th anniversary through increased state funding.
The only revisions for VIMS’ six-year plan were state funding requests to expand the school’s capacity for ongoing environmental research projects and lab work.
The committee also discussed the College’s projected flat enrollment for the next six years. These projections have been shared with the State Council of Higher Education.
Administration, Buildings and Grounds
The committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds convened Thursday, passing eight resolutions. Approved measures include the improvement of auxiliary services, amending the optional retirement plan for employees of the Virginia School of Marine Science and updating the construction management workforce plan.
VIMS also received approval to acquire nearby properties as needed to support research capacity. Lastly, the school will officially demolish several aging buildings on the Gloucester campus to make room for future infrastructural development projects.
Additionally, College President Katherine Rowe unveiled a new plan which aims to revolutionize learning spaces on-campus over a ten-year period starting in 2025. The project will be in collaboration with Sasaki Associates Inc, a private architecture firm previously hired by the College to renovate the School of Education in 2010.
The committee discussed key areas for improvement in the College’s current classrooms, such as overcrowding, accessibility issues and a lack of flexibility and visibility. The stated goal of the project is to boost student wellness.
Rowe shared her vision with The Flat Hat, explaining how the project evolved from only a few buildings to a sweeping overhaul of the College’s learning spaces.
“What we had before was a very simple sort of list of buildings we were going to renovate,” Rowe said. “And I’m like, that’s not what we need. We need a comprehensive plan. It’s going to have living spaces — that is the housing and dining that we’ve as part of the ten-year plan — learning spaces which we’ve never had before and a landscape plan which we’ve never had before. So now we’re going to end up, this time next year, passing a comprehensive plan instead of that checklist master plan.”
Associate Vice President for Business Affairs Sean Hughes shared that students can fill out a survey on Sasaki’s website providing feedback on the issues they feel need to be addressed most within the College’s classrooms. With around 700 responses collected so far, Hughes encouraged all students to voice their concerns and potentially influence the project’s trajectory.
“We’d really love some more student feedback,” Hughes said. “I mean, you guys are the ones who make up a majority of the campus. And I think you guys bring fresh ideas. It’s really nice to have a new class every year, so we get a refresh.”
Hughes explained that the landscape plan will be executed over the next 100 years, aiming to fundamentally reshape the campus grounds, much like the Sunken Garden.
“The Sunken Gardens is a 100-year plan, it’s 100 years old,” Hughes said. “And so that’s kind of the landscape idea, is that we would set up the landscape of the campus to be as curated as the Sunken Gardens and develop portions for the next 100 years. So some thoughtful planning ahead of time to make those spaces feel natural and feel like gathering spaces.”
Committee on Institutional Advancement
The committee discussed the national branding process for the College. Members of University Advancement gave their presentations to the board, including Senior Associate Vice President for Communications and Chief Communications Officer Brian Whitson and Senior Vice President for University Advancement Matthew T. Lambert ’99.
During University Communications’ segment, Whitson and Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer Heather Golden discussed strategies for evaluating the College’s national profile.
Lambert shared with the board that a big part of University Communications’s job is to keep the College out of the news, which is frequently more important than in the news.
As part of University Communications’s “Blue Sky Thinking” presentation, which highlighted potential ways for the College to promote the institution without any financial or other barriers, Golden shared a potential Super Bowl ad for the College featuring Sean McDermott ’97 and Mike Tomlin ’95. Golden said the ad would cost $7 million.
College Rector Charles E. Poston J.D. ’74, P ’02, ’06 asked Golden during the presentation about how the College aims to create a national branding, as well as a way to distribute it. Poston said he felt that the College still lacked a brand.
Golden said the College is working with an outside vendor to come up with a plan and might have more concrete details in February.
Golden also shared that out-of-state applications are declining at the College. She said the College is looking into the contributing factors.
In discussing the College’s rankings, Lambert read excerpts from a New York Times article, “The U.S. News College Rankings Are Out. Cue the Rage and Obsession.” The article calls the rankings a bastion of U.S. News’s “bygone influence.”
Lambert said rankings emphasize more short-term outcomes, as opposed to long-term, and that they matter more to alumni than other groups.
Answering a question from board member AnnaMaria DeSalva ’90, Lambert said the reduction in the College’s alumni engagement is due to staffing issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Committee on the Student Experience
The Committee on the Student Experience met Thursday to discuss campus life. Senior Vice President for Student Affairs & Public Safety Ginger Ambler ’88, Ph.D. ’06 opened with a presentation on student engagement with wellness resources, noting that use of the counseling and student health centers has remained fairly consistent since 2022.
Ambler also spoke about the campus climate as it relates to the Israel-Palestine conflict, referencing the recent changes to student protest guidelines.
She then discussed the progress made toward the College’s Democracy Initiative before highlighting the West Campus Site’s addition of 900 beds and a new dining facility, as well as the Jamestown East residence hall.
Student Experience Committee chair Kendrick F. Ashton, Jr. ’98 provided updates on athletics, mentioning the academic achievements of the College’s student athletes. He also highlighted the lunch held with the full board earlier that day, which brought together student athletes, coaches and athletic leadership for discussion.
No resolutions were passed during the session.
Full Board Meeting
The full board convened Friday to conduct an overview of the matters discussed within each committee regarding the College’s future and approved new bylaws.
Board members also reflected on several key projects, including the Year of the Arts, Better Arguments workshops, and initiatives to gear up for next year’s campus-wide theme of conservation and sustainability.
Student Assembly President Terra Sloane ’25 submitted her student report to the Board prior to the meeting. Sloane commented on the bylaws change which no longer guarantees the student assembly president’s seat on the Board, but rather allows them to appoint a student representative as seen fit.
“I think that there are great possibilities in that change,” Sloane said. “I think there’s an opportunity for a student assembly president to appoint a student to the Board who has a passion for administration, higher ed administration, and would love to use that opportunity to speak to you all.”
However, Sloane underscored that precedent will probably still guide the selection process, meaning the president will likely keep their spot in future years.
“I think it’s likely we’ll see a future where the student assembly president ends up being the representative for many years to come and puts themselves up for nomination,” Sloane said. “But just to remind or enforce to members of the Board who will be here long after me, to treat any student that comes into this board with that same respect, even if they are not an elected student. And also to understand the importance of having a student elected by their student body.”
Poston commended Sloane for nominating a diverse group of students to serve as committee representatives. He specifically remarked about the appointment of Momen Zahid ’25 to the Student Experience committee, noting how he was a student athlete and also actively campaigned for Sloane’s opponent, Yannie Chang ’25, as student body president.
Chair of the Administration, Buildings and Grounds committee and Secretary of the Board Ardine Williams similarly commended Sloane, noting the particular productive collaboration she had with Diana Kim ’25, the student representative on the ABG committee.
The board also passed a resolution recognizing former College Vice President for Strategy and Innovation Jeremy P. Martin Ph.D. ’12, MBA ’17’s service to the College. Martin left the College to become president of Florida Southern College.
Rowe called Martin and put him on speaker phone. After Williams read the resolution, Martin remarked about how he missed the College.
“I’m keenly aware that the only reason I have had the opportunities, including the current one that I hold, is because people have poured themselves into me,” Martin said.
The Board of Visitors will hold their next quarterly meeting Thursday, Nov. 21 and Friday, Nov. 22.
