Now that the University knows about how much money the Legislature is likely to provide during the next biennium, the Board of Regents must begin to decide which programs and projects will receive money.
At their monthly meetings today and tomorrow on the Twin Cities campus, the regents will make decisions about several of many funding issues that will unfold before the next biennial budget begins in 1998.
In the facilities committee, the regents are likely to approve funding for renovation of four buildings — three on the Twin Cities campus. Administrators have proposed $12 million in renovations to Haecker Hall on the St. Paul campus. Another St. Paul renovation will also be voted upon: a $3 million overhaul of the Minnesota Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics Building.
Other proposed projects include a $2.3 million renovation of the Humanities and Fine Arts Building on the Morris campus, and a second-phase remodeling of Williamson Hall on the East Bank.
All of the remodeling is aimed at solving the $1 billion backlog of repairs and renovations that need to be done to bring University buildings up to code. The problem is commonly referred to as deferred maintenance.
“There are several ways to do deferred maintenance. One is to substitute space, which is to put in a new building and take junk off, and the other is to go in and renovate it,” Bob Kvavik, associate vice president for Academic Affairs, said in March.
The Educational Planning and Policy Committee will hear a report today on foreign language instruction. At the Committee of the Whole meeting Friday, administrators will present a report to the regents about the status of the reorganization of the College of Biological Sciences. At the Faculty, Staff and Student Affairs Committee meeting Thursday, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Marvin Marshak will compare faculty salaries at top research universities with the University’s compensation figures.
The regents will also conduct two closed meetings Thursday to discuss legal matters, including the $100 million federal ALG lawsuit.