Oct. 21, 2015

Page 1

97th year • Issue 10

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Check out our special Halloween issue inside.

THE INDEPENDENT OLLEGIAN

Halloween Special

Edition

Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919

INSIDE

Playing the Field The UT marching band will be taking a trip from their familiar field to play in the Colts’ halftime show. COMMUNITY / 6 »

Mast e e r Plan h T FACILITIES

UT gathers input on utilizing facilities By Riley Sproul Staff Reporter

Rockets Blast Eagles #19 Toledo remains unbeaten in Saturday’s 63-20 win.

SPORTS / 5 »

“If the buildings are out of commission, then we won’t be able to have class, and the university will slowly halt while while repairs are being made.” EDITORIAL Back to the basics OPINION / 3 »

Toledo community gives back to those in need UT students are joining the community to participate in Tent City.

COMMUNITY / 6 »

“It feels like just yesterday that I was staring at a nearly blank agenda book, but today, I can barely squeeze in a nap.” ASHLEY GEARHEART My mid-semester blues OPINION / 3 »

Goals hard to come by, Toledo drops two games on the road The Rockets fell 3-1 to the Buffalo Bulls on Friday and 2-1 against the Akron Zips on Sunday. SPORTS / 5 »

www.IndependentCollegian.com

The University of Toledo recently signed a $750,000 contract with SmithGroupJJR to revitalize and renovate the multiple campuses over the next ten months. SmithGroupJJR is in the process of developing a Master Plan for the several campuses of UT, which involves taking an inventory of space and resources while gathering feedback from

students, faculty and the community. Doug Kozma, a coleader of SmithGroupJJR’s campus planning practice, held a number of interactive presentations Oct. 14 and 15, getting the public opinion on what aspects of UT can be improved upon. “We’re going to be talking with all facets of the institution, and all locations,” Kozma said. “We’re asking, how can we pull together assets that may be scattered in different locations, how can we better use the space we have?” Jason Toth, associate vice president for facilities and construction, wrote in an email interview that the decision to go forward with the Master Planning initiative was decided under former interim president Nagi Naganathan and the rest of the senior leadership team. During their time on campus, SmithGroupJJR will also ask opinions from various student groups on campus, including Student Government. SG

President Cody Spoon said he thinks the plan is timely since he believes many buildings on campus are lacking proper maintenance. “We should make sure that there isn’t a lot of deferred maintenance that needed to be done five years ago,” Spoon said. “I know that was a cause of a lot of frustration with students.” The initial contract with SmithGroupJJR cost the university $750,000 and this is expected to be offset through the efficiencies that are found and fixed across all of UT. This covers the cost of many analyses and investigations into each campus’s use of resources. “We’ll be looking at essentially two things: One, strategically, where are we going? Secondly, what do we have as schools already to get us there?” Kozma said. However, the cost of renovating and bringing these changes about does not yet have a price tag. “Part of the Master Planning process and document will be to identify opportunities and pathways with conceptual costs models associated with them. See Forum / 4 »

ADMINISTRATION

UT CFO search turns up short

By Colleen Anderson Managing Editor

After a six-month search, the University of Toledo’s president Sharon Gaber decided against both finalists for the position of chief financial officer and executive vice president for finance and administration. The final three candidates, Sherideen Stoll, Dawn Rhodes and Gregory Scott, all came to UT for public forums during the month of August. Following the forum, Stoll dropped out, leaving the choice between Rhodes and Scott. Almost two months later, the university announced the decision, and that current UTMC CEO Dave Morlock would be temporarily taking over the position of CFO. Morlock said he was happy to take over the position while Gaber searched for a replacement. “I am glad to be able to help UT by returning to the Office of Finance to provide temporary leadership during this period

“The money that we’ve spent is money that we’ve spent, and if it’s the right thing to go forward and engage a new search, then that’s what we need to do.”

KRISTEN KEITH President of Faculty Senate

of transition,” Morlock wrote in an e-mail statement. “We have a strong team of individuals in Finance and Administration who are committed to enhancing the financial strength, facilities, human resources, information technology and public safety of this university.” According to Gaber, Morlock will only be serving as interim CFO for a short period of roughly one or two months until a new, longer-term

5%

interim can be selected. While the long term interim CFO and VP of finance and administration serves for six to nine months, Gaber plans to launch a new search. Gaber said the cost of the search was between $50,000 to $100,000, which she said is UT’s average cost range for an administrative search. The exact costs depend on whether a search firm is used and how the firm is paid, which can be based on either the firm’s fixed rate or a percentage of the salary. Kristen Keith, president of faculty senate and member of the search committee, said the importance of the position justifies the cost spent on the search so far as well as future costs. “This is such an important position for the university; we really need to get our finances right,” Keith said. “The money that we’ve spent is money that we’ve spent, and if it’s the right thing to go forward and engage See Search / 7 »

CITY ISSUES

UT hosts mayoral forums Students heard the candidates’ views on hot-button issues By Jessica Harker and Joe Heidenescher

Associate News Editor and Features Editor

The University of Toledo hosted two mayoral forums about a variety of current issues specifically directed at two student organizations on campus. The first forum, held Oct. 13, addressed issues surrounding the LGBT community. The second, held Oct. 19, was about the Black Lives Matter movement. “The main purpose was so that students and the community can come out and meet the mayoral candidates if they hadn’t already at previous events,” said Melaney Goosby, the vice president of the Black Student Union.

“The main purpose was so that students and the community can come out and meet the mayoral candidates.” MELANEY GOOSBY Vice president of BSU

LGBTQA Issues Jack Alferio, president of the campus LGBTQA group Spectrum UT, attended the first forum to better understand the candidates’ positions on issues relevant to the group. He thought the forum could have been more direct in which topics they discussed. “I felt like it could’ve gone better, to be honest,” Alferio said. “I thought the questions were really general and no one really asked questions; it was just a lot of ‘how do you feel’ about the general LGBT community and not really See Mayor / 7 »

ATTENDANCE COSTS

By Ashley Diel Staff Reporter

The University of Toledo submitted a proposal last Thursday to the Ohio Department of Higher Education with a plan for decreasing the cost of attendance for in-state students by at least five percent. The Ohio Department of Higher Education mandated all public Ohio universities to submit their plans on how to make college more affordable for students. In response, UT included a proposal in their budget last year, which also included a freeze in tuition for this year and next. UT’s proposal included an increase in the amount of scholarships and cutting back

That’s how much UT is required to cut from in-state cost of attendance.

on unnecessary costs. The proposal also details the cost-ofattendance saving options from the past two years along with any new saving options UT plans on implementing. According to the proposal, the average cost for in-state students is $16,217 a year and $64,868 for four years. This includes the cost for undergraduate tuition, fees, room, board and textbooks. Rhonda Wingfield, director of budgets and planning, said UT has already taken measures to help reduce the cost of attendance by increasing the scholarship budget for directfrom-high-school students by $7.5 million and offering a 25 percent housing discount to students living on campus. Wingfield also said UT’s

participation in the College Credit Plus program has helped high school students earn college credits, lessening the credits they will have to pay for in college. “The average participant completes 30 credit hours, which is equivalent to one year of undergraduate savings,” she

“UT has increased the number of students participating in the program by more than 40 percent in the last two academic years.” RHONDA WINGFIELD Director of budgets and planning

said. “UT has increased the number of students participating in the program by more than 40 percent in the last two academic years.” According to the proposal, UT has several ideas on how to further cut back the cost of attendance including lowering the minimum credit hours for a bachelors degree from 124 to 120, developing a program to assist faculty in transitioning to opensource materials and implementing a program to identify at-risk students to help them stay on track to degree completion. Wingfield said if a student took advantage of all the cost-saving incentives already in place or that will be in the See Budget / 4 »


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