Much of the time members of the Board of Trustees spend on campus this weekend for their annual Winter Term meeting will be devoted to the discussion of ongoing projects.
"There are just all sorts of things that are just in the planning stages," Chairman of the Board of Trustees William H. King, Jr. '63 told The Dartmouth yesterday.
One decision that will be made over the weekend is the approval of a budget for the 2001-2002 academic year, including fixing the amount by which tuition rates will increase next year.
"We'll receive some recommendations from the administration and we will consider those," King said, declining to offer a preview of the Trustees budget decision.
King did say, however, that the Trustees will be "trying to keep any tuition increases as low as practical," but noted that many issues play a part in determining what is "practical."
The 45 percent increase of the College's endowment last year is a "long-term" consideration, King said. Thus, it will likely not play a major role in the budget considerations for the coming year.
As it has at most Trustee meetings for the last two years, the Student Life Initiative and related issues will take up a significant amount of the Board members' time this weekend.
The World Culture's Initiative, one of the new projects mandated last spring by the Board, is just getting off the ground, and King said the Trustees will be discussing its progress.
"It's very important to us that this gets off on the right foot," King said.
Campus construction projects -- including new undergraduate housing on Tuck Drive and Maynard Street -- will be an important topic of conversation, King said, especially in terms of integrating planned North Campus expansions into the campus as a whole.
Trustees will not be discussing the murders of professors Half and Susanne Zantop in an official context. King said that the College President James Wright is handling Dartmouth's response to the tragedy, but noted that members of the Board have been kept up to date on an almost daily basis.
"It is not the College's position to become involved except obviously to express our sincere sorrow," King said.
Other issues on the Board's agenda include discussions about the next capital campaign and an update from College Provost Susan Prager about progress on the pending academic planning report.
As always, the Board's time on campus is quite busy and the Trustee's got to work after they began arriving on campus yesterday afternoon, including meetings with Student Assembly leaders and the Committee on Student Affairs. Trustees also met with students during an informal reception in the Top of the Hop.
