Board of Trustees Update

The Board of Trustees' first meeting of the academic year took place in Oberlin on October 9 and 10. The program began with orientation for four new trustees, who joined the board at this time. This orientation process helps new trustees understand the current work of the board.

Prior to the beginning of the meeting, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee met. Please refer to the Steering Committee website for more information on the committee's work.

On Thursday evening, the board attended a presentation in the form of a dialogue on diversity in higher education. The presenters were Sylvia Hurtado, professor, Graduate School of Education at UCLA, and Terrell Strayhorn, professor, Higher Education at Ohio State. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee has scheduled a series of four presentations for the fall semester, two of which overlap with board meetings.

The board moved from that presentation to the Trustee-Student Forum held in Wilder Hall. The board engages with students both formally and informally in a variety of settings, but the Trustee-Student Forum provides the opportunity for board members to hear a wide variety of student voices.

Friday's session began with a plenary exercise to help the entire board better understand the early work of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. All board committees except for the audit and investment committees met during the weekend and approved their charters and working calendars for the year. For those with interest, the charters, which help to explain the work of the committees and therefore the board, may be found on the trustee website.

During the meeting, the development staff was pleased to announce the current total of $236.5 million for the Oberlin Illuminate Campaign. This puts the campaign in excess of 90 percent of its $250 million goal. The board thanks the development staff for its hard work and all of you who have pledged or contributed to the campaign. The focus of the campaign now is fundraising for financial aid, health and wellness, and improvements to Hall Auditorium.

Finally, the board reviewed its goals for the coming year along with those of the president.