The future Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine has received a $20 million pledge from an anonymous donor.

In the financial statement presented to the OU board of trustees at the board meeting Wednesday, Sept. 23, the OU administration revealed that $2 million of the pledge was already given to OU, with a clause that the rest of the pledge would not be given if the privately-funded medical school didn’t receive accreditation, or if OU stops running the school.

At the meeting, the trustees unanimously voted to approve the financial statement. They also approved gifts, pledges, grants and contracts given to OU from July 1 to Aug. 31, undergraduate and graduate degrees and diplomas given in the summer semester, expenditure of federal award programs in fiscal year 2009, and personnel changes such as new hires, rehires and position changes.

 

 

 

The 2009-12 contract for about 600 faculty members represented by the faculty unions hasn’t been approved by the board yet, because it hasn’t been voted on and approved by the faculty.

Joel Russell, union president, said the vote will be online starting Thursday, Oct. 1 and end Thursday, Oct. 8 at noon. Paper ballots will also be available.

In an interview with The Oakland Post, John Beaghan, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer to the board of trustees, said this financial statement covered fiscal year 2009, between July 1 2008 to June 30, 2009. This is roughly the 2008-09 academic year.

Within fiscal year 2009, OU lost $13.6 million in investments, compared to $2.5 million in earnings in fiscal year 2008, despite investing conservatively. Beaghan said this was due to the bad economy.

While he couldn’t say if the investment revenue will increase or decrease in fiscal year 2010, he said it’s looking good for now.

“I can only speak to how we did first quarter [July 1, 2009 to now],” he said, and that there have been positive earnings so far, not losses.

OU had a net asset increase of $2 million in fiscal year 2009. Endowment funds totaling $688,106 of the increase can’t be spent, Beaghan said. But they can be invested, and revenue generated from the interest can be spent.

“We can’t take this and give it to the faculty or students,” Beaghan said, because donors choose specific projects for these funds.

OU received $19.1 million in gifts in fiscal year 2009, an increase from $4.5 million in fiscal year 2008.

But Beaghan said about $16 million of the $19.1 million was the $20 million gift for the medical school.

Although OU will get $2 million a year for 10 years, it was rounded down for the financial statement as one lump sum, like lottery winnings, he said.

Without this med school gift, the statement would’ve shown a $14 million loss instead of a $2 million increase, Beaghan said.

OU received about $2 million in research grants and contracts just between July 1 and Aug. 31.

The majority of the funds came from National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

Recipients of the funds included studies of eye diseases, black holes, the impact of arsenic, car sensors, and plans for making OU’s future Human Health Building more energy efficient.

The administration also showed there was $388,216 in gifts and pledges given to OU from July 1 to Aug. 31.

The board voted to renew trustee Jacqueline Long’s board chair.

Trustee Henry Baskin’s term as vice chair was also renewed.

Trustee Michael Kraemer was voted to replace trustee Dennis Pawley as the chair of the board’s finance, audit and investment committee.

Three speakers — a representative of the faculty union, a student, and a representative of Micah Fialka-Feldman — addressed the board.

The board listened to their concerns and dismissed the meeting without discussing these concerns publicly.