9/28/96

ATHENS, Ohio -- A center to help students resolve consumer and landlord-tenant disputes was created Saturday by the Ohio University Board of Trustees.

The Center for Student Advocacy will provide legal education and advice, and a mechanism for mediation and arbitration of housing, landlord-tenant disputes and consumer protection issues. The non-profit organization will have a managing attorney to provide legal representation, and a nine-member mediation-arbitration board that will include representatives from Ohio University Student Senate, the Athens Landlord Association and the Dean of Student's Office. Both Student Senate President Josh Woolley and Legal Affairs Director John Burns were commended by the board and by President Robert Glidden for marshaling the plan to board approval.

Trustees also approved $4.1 million worth of building or site renovations on the Athens campus. One of the 21 projects provides $250,000 for infrastructure and site development on the West Green for a new baseball-softball field. An expansion of facilities for the College of Health and Human Services in Grover Center will expand that building into the current baseball field.

In other action, trustees:

* Received a report that the university deliberately accepted fewer students for its freshman class because residence halls are full and class space for first-year students is tight. The preliminary student count for the main campus and its continuing education program is 19,538, compared with 19,727 last year.

The preliminary total for Ohio University's five regional campuses is 7,660 compared with 8,212 last year. About 800 students were cut this year when federal and state grants for higher education programs at state prisons were eliminated. The prison program had been administered by the regional campuses.

* Received an annual report from the Office for Institutional Equity that showed that 41 percent of tenure track faculty hires this year were females; 53 percent of full-time administrative hires were females; 17 percent of tenure-track faculty hires were minorities; and 13 percent of full-time administrative hires were minorities.

* Approved a new, two-year distance-learning MBA program fee of $25,000. The fee includes tuition, meals and housing for short residencies during the program. Students are responsible for their own access to the internet. There is no differentiation between in-state and out-of-state tuition.

* Received a report that Provost Sharon Brehm will chair a task force to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of changing the school calendar from quarters to semesters. President Glidden said that while open hearings would be used to solicit views from throughout the campus and community, the current system will change only if there is a sound academic reason for it.

* Were told that William Kennard, university treasurer and vice president for finance as well as treasurer of the Ohio University Foundation Board of Trustees, plans to retire next summer. Kennard is a 1954 Ohio University graduate and has been working for the university since 1966 when he accepted a position as assistant controller. "He is an individual of high standards, high ethics and high loyalty, and he will be very hard to replace," Trustee Tad Grover said at the conclusion of the meeting.