The ETSU Board of Trustees met virtually Sept. 18 to discuss the approval of several items, including changes to board bylaws, a new equity and inclusion strategy plan and a reworked out-of-state enrollment strategy.
Joe Sherlin, Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment, outlined a significant tuition drop for incoming out-of-state students to a competitive $13,500 and a reduced $10,500 for border state students from Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
The new strategy is intended to move away from ETSU’s previous $28,500 high-price, high-aid model and to more aggressively compete with nearby public schools. ETSU’s border county waiver will remain in place, and out-of-state students currently enrolled will not see a change in their tuition or aid. Instead, the incoming freshmen of fall 2021 and all subsequent cohorts will begin with the new tuition model.
“I know as we look at the competitive landscape, Tennessee Promise has made it possible for students to attend community colleges at no cost, North Carolina Promise has made it possible for students to attend Western Carolina University at a significant reduction in price and we’re in an extremely competitive landscape,” said ETSU President Brian Noland. “We’ve got a wonderful institution, outstanding academic programs and our hope is by re-centering our price for out-of-state students coupled with the things we’ve done for Tennessee Promise Plus here that we’ve allowed students that want to pursue their dreams to do so at our university.”
Revisions to the board’s bylaws were unanimously approved to waive the requirement for standing committees to meet four times a year in the event of unforeseen circumstances, as well as altering the selection process of one of the members of the Executive Committee.
Under the older version of the bylaws, the third seat of the Executive Committee was occupied by the Chair of the Academic, Research and Student Success Committee but has now been opened up to a general election of any approved board member.
The change also specified a two-year term length and succession plan in the event the committee member is unable to complete their term, calling for an early election to complete the previous member’s time on the committee.
The changes were put in place to cover a gap revealed by Trustee David Golden’s departure from the board to transition the position of Chair of Excellence within the College of Business and Technology. At the end of the meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve a resolution thanking Golden for his contributions to the school and board as well as noting his enthusiastic participation and mentorship. Golden was an inaugural member of the Board of Trustees from its first meeting in 2017.
“I just want to tell you how much I appreciated serving with the best university board in the world,” Golden said. “It was a really really tough decision to step down; I’m going to miss a lot of the opportunity to work with you as a board. I know that talent in our world is universal and opportunity is not, and I’m going to work my darndest to help the university move the needle to make opportunity more universal in our part, our region, so we can play our part more fully to help change the world.”
The vacancies left by Golden were filled by Melissa Steagal Jones as a new trustee and chair of the Audit Committee, Linda Latimer as vice chair and Steve Decarlo as the third member of the Executive Committee.
Keith Johnson, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, presented the office’s 2020-2022 strategic plan with a focus on providing equity education opportunities in the classroom, diversity experiences on campus and relationship building within the surrounding community. Johnson spoke of the importance of inclusion within the classroom from personal experience, recounting his own challenges in education.
“What works for African American students works for any student, because what they’re looking for is pretty much the same thing that most students who are successful will get anyway, and that is just being embraced, being promoted, being included,” said Johnson. “I know what it feels like to be in a classroom where you’re not necessarily included. I know what it feels like to be in a classroom where because you’re the only African American, anytime there’s a question about sports, guess who gets that question?”
The board also approved the 2020-2021 audit plan for the university, reviewed academic changes to programs across campus and reviewed recent expenses.
Due to the meeting being broadcast via livestream, the board answered questions to satisfy Tennessee law regarding online public meetings to establish a quorum and informed those watching that public comment was still possible through direct contact with the ETSU trustees email.
For more information about changes implemented during the meeting, visit https://www.etsu.edu/trustees/.
