by Hannah Steigmeyer

The Board of Trustees’ annual spring meeting will be held today through Saturday, April 26. Chairman Barry Schwartz ’70 noted there are two major items on the agenda: “An update in Kenyon 2020 conversations” with discussions being led by President Sean Decatur and “an update on the campus master plan.” The rest of the meeting, according to Schwartz, will be the “ordinary business” of the Board.

Decatur said there will be a general discussion about budget planning for the future as well. “We’ve approved the budget for this year,” he said, “but are beginning to take … a picture of where we think priorities are going for the next few years and kind of prep to lay the groundwork for thinking about next year’s budget.”

At this meeting, Decatur said there will be “a presentation … about the broader national landscape of Title IX and sexual misconduct,” which is intended “to bring trustees up to speed [and be] primarily informational,” he said.

At the Board’s fall meeting, members began to discuss students’ concerns that the amount of aid that goes toward housing does not cover the cost of apartment rooms on campus; students on financial aid cannot afford living in a campus apartment.

This week, “the regular committee [the Board] will meet and the primary session will be on Saturday morning,” Schwartz said.  While there are no specific plans or policies set to be voted on, Schwartz said, “there may be some discussion about [housing prices] by the Buildings and Grounds Committee, but we made pretty good progress [during the fall meeting].”

As far as issues regarding the availability of housing for students for the 2014-15 academic year, Schwartz emphasized the fairness of Kenyon’s current lottery system and said, “It all seems to sort out on the usual course.”