Oakland University’s Board of Trustees (BOT) held its final Fall 2023 semester and calendar year meeting on Dec. 4.
President’s Report
OU President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz began the president’s report by recognizing the late Professor Algea O. Harrison-Hale, OU’s first African-American professor of psychology. Harrison-Hale passed away in November.
“We’re so very proud of her because she was also Trustee Emeritus at New Detroit, which is such an important organization that advocates for policies to promote racial diversity, equity inclusion and justice, where she served for 28 years and was chair of the racial and economic justice committee,” Pescovitz said. “She was such an important influence for us here at Oakland.”
Pescovitz announced OU’s new dashboard accessible on the president’s page on OU’s website which, she said, has been an important initiative for her since becoming OU’s president.
The dashboard measures metrics and OU’s performance on several key performance indicators (KPIs) and includes information regarding the institution’s profiles, student outcomes and university operations.
“The purpose of the dashboard is really to give us an opportunity to track our progress in a highly transparent and accessible way to allow us to present insights into key data, including our enrollment, graduation outcomes, our budget and operations,” she said. “[It enables] us to share information from a common data warehouse so that our users can work with it at the same time and with the same data.
“We’re still in the incipient phases of this, but I believe strongly that I having data by having metrics, we can improve what we do and continue on our stretch goal of becoming the university of choice,” Pescovitz added.
Additionally, Pescovitz and the BOT congratulated Greg Kampe, head coach of OU basketball, on 40 years of coaching at OU.
“You do so much for Oakland University,” Pescovitz said. “We love the fact that you represent us everywhere you go, and you really make us proud.”
Pescovitz also gave congratulations to OU’s Women’s Cross County Team and Softball Team for earning the title of 2023 Horizon League Champs, as well as the athletic directors.
Pescovitz closed her report with a recap of OU’s reception of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Excellence and Innovation Award for Stewards of Place. OU is the inaugural recipient of this award.
“This award cites Oakland as a national model for civic engagement for our work in Pontiac,” Pescovitz said. “It really was an honor to represent our entire institution and all of the OU-Pontiac Initiative in early November [at the AASCU meeting].
“There is no other university that has this type of impact,” she said.
Pescovitz wished the campus community a happy holiday break, which begins Dec. 21.
Treasurers Report & Financial Statements
The board reviewed the most recent Treasurer’s Report for the fiscal year that ended in June 2023. The returns were “surprisingly positive.” Important details included an endowment up 13.72%, a 19.25% increase in the publicly traded or equity component of the portfolio and a flat fixed income component of the portfolio.
“We’ve also tried to make sure that we’re looking at what’s going on in the world, and as we know right now, there’s significant issues in our world,” Senior Vice President of Wealth Management at the UBS Wealth Strategy Group Rebecca Sorensen said. “We’ve also dealt the last year with inflation and higher interest rates, but we’ve tried to monitor what’s going on and make sure that the allocation is appropriate for the distributions that you make on an annual basis but also the future.”
The OU fiscal portfolio returned 4.3% in the fiscal year, slightly below the policy benchmark, though the liquid assets overperformed at 3.7%.
The BOT also accepted the presented financial statements for the fiscal year.
Renewal of Charter for Caniff Liberty Academy
One of OU’s charter schools, Caniff Liberty Academy, received a renewal of five years until June 30, 2029. The school has been chartered since 1995.
The school received an 8% increase in enrollment in the last year and serves approximately 4,500 students across Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. Many of the children come from Yemen, Bangladesh and Ukraine, and 100% of the students are economically disadvantaged.
“Caniff has always been a place where students who are fleeing wars and other troubles in their own countries come, and it’s a school that I’m very proud to have us work with,” Jon Margerum-Leys, Dean of the School of Education and Human Services, said.
OU Senate Constitution and BOT Bylaws Updates
Several amendments were approved to be added to the OU Senate Constitution, which had not been amended in almost 40 years, following open forums regarding amendments proposed and approved in May 2023. The amendments’ voter approval ranged from 80 to 100% for each amendment during the ratification.
New amendments included the following: apportionment status, which now requires 65 versus 47 senators; the inclusion of certain academic units, including the School of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing, the School of Business Administration, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, and the Eye Research Institute; an update of the Dean of the Graduate School’s title; the inclusion of OUWB faculty members in the term “organized faculty;” the expansion of Senate meeting minute storage in the BOT office and the library; the development of a Senate website where everything is located; and defining substantive and non-substantive motions.
“The maintenance of our government governance documents we really believe will facilitate both clarity, as well as efficiency and how we’re processing things, are getting folks to go to the same place when they need that information,” Britt Rios-Ellis, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, said.
Additionally, several changes to the BOT’s bylaws were approved. This is the first time the bylaws have been adjusted since 1997.
The adjustments include an addition of an emergency action provision that allows the board to take emergency action if three or more members of the BOT or the OU president find it necessary.
“The revisions are consistent with common and best practices for higher education institutions and other institutions, and many of those revisions are based upon similar provisions currently in effect at other Michigan institutions of higher education,” Joshua Merchant, secretary to the BOT, said.
New Items for Consideration/Action
Oakland University Student Congress (OUSC) president Murryum Farooqi approached the board with a request to include a provision voted on by the students to become collaborators to choose their advisors in the OUSC constitution.
“[This is] the norm on college campuses. This was hoped to be done by codifying the process in the constitution,” she said. “It hasn’t happened yet, but we hope to achieve the adoption of this provision in the future.”
The meeting was adjourned with no further comments from the public.
Robert Schostak, chair of the BOT, wished his fellow board members and audience a happy holiday break.
“On behalf of my family, Nancy and I, I want to thank our board for all the work you’ve done this year and your friendship and your support. Ora, to your team, to just an outstanding cabinet that works diligently to make this university great,” he said.
“Thank you to our faculty, staff, friends and guests who are here. We wish all of you the most wonderful, safe, healthy holiday season. We know we’re in very strenuous and awkward times. Be safe, be smart and let’s have a great new year.”
