Tag Archives: Board of Trustees

Cosby admitted in 2005 to giving drugs to women for sex

Posted on by

Court documents have been released that indicate Bill Cosby gave Quaaludes to women he intended to have sex with, the Associated Press reported.

Cosby testified in 2005 that he got the drugs and was planning to give them to women he wanted to have sex with, admitting to giving the sedative to at least one woman and “other people,” according to documents obtained by the AP Monday.

The AP was previously denied access to these records – Cosby’s lawyers said it would embarrass their client. The documents obtained were part of a lawsuit involving a former Temple University employee, and Cosby testified that he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl, the AP reported.

Since last year, more than two dozen women have accused the longtime comedian of sexual assault, citing events dating back to the 1960s, the AP reported. Amid these allegations, Bill Cosby resigned from Temple’s Board of Trustees on Dec. 1 of last year. Cosby served on the board for more than three decades.

“I have always been proud of my association with Temple University,” Cosby said in a statement made available by the university following his resignation. “I have always wanted to do what would be in the best interests of the university and its students. As a result, I have tendered my resignation from the Temple University Board of Trustees.”

One of the lawyers who represented Cosby in the 2005 case was Patrick O’Connor, the current chairman of the Board of Trustees. The AP continues to investigate court records pertaining to the case in 2005. The board’s next public meeting is scheduled for July 14.

Current breakdown to Class of 2018 announced at trustees meeting

Posted on by

Temple’s Board of Trustees held a general body meeting May 13 at the Liacouras Center, confirming the appointments of two new trustees and confirm an administrator, establishing a new professorship and approving the agendas of its committees, which met weeks prior.

In the president’s report, which is made at the beginning of every general body meeting, President Theobald said the current makeup of students accepted to Temple for the Class of 2018 is about two-thirds male, a third minority, and 4.7 percent international students.

Theobald added that many other universities in Philadelphia have extended their application deadlines to make up for a shrinking amount of high school graduates.

“They will continue to recruit prospective students, including those who have already placed a deposit at Temple,” Theobald said.

The board elected Scott F. Cooper, former president of the Philadelphia Bar Assocation, as a trustee and new president of the Temple University Alumni Association, taking over for trustee John Campolongo, who received a resolution of appreciation for his presidency.

“Scott’s going to be a great leader for us,” Campolongo said. “He’s going to challenge us in ways, probably, which I haven’t, which is why we rotate people out.

The Alumni Association focuses on encouraging alumni involvement, Campolongo said, adding that involved alumni “want to give any way they can, and that doesn’t always mean money, it’s volunteering too.”

The board also elected Goldman Sachs Head of Global Compliance Alan M. Cohen. Both new trustees terms began Tuesday, May 13 and end Oct. 10, 2017.

James Dicker, a top fundraiser for Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., was confirmed as Temple’s vice president for institutional advancement after being appointed by Theobald in March.

The trustees approved the establishment of the Selma Lee Bloch Brown professorship in the College of Science and Technology. Brown, who bequeathed $353,000 to CST “to encourage women in the study of mathematics and physics.” The fund will provide nearly $16,000 annually to professors, according to CST Dean Michael Klein’s report.

The trustees will next meet on June 26 in the Feinstone Lounge of Sullivan Hall.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

BOT committees approve facilities renovations and professors’ tenure

Posted on by

In preparation for its May 13 general body meeting, Temple’s Board of Trustees’ Facilities, Academic Affairs and Alumni Relations and Development committees met on May 5.  After the public session meeting of the Facilities committee, the trustees moved to executive session, which is closed to the public.

Trustees not on the Facilities committee including Athletics committee chairman Lewis Katz and local philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest attended the executive session meeting, likely to discuss plans for developing Main Campus.

The Facilities committee met in public session at noon to approve a 23-item agenda that included spending for demolishing and renovating buildings.

The committee approved a recommendation to demolish the Triangle Apartments near the corner of Broad and Norris streets at a cost not to exceed $1.4 million. The apartments, formerly used as graduate housing, were deemed unsafe by a structural engineer and closed in September.

“There were a lot of safety concerns in the building and they were really not in a situation where they could be repaired or used,” Senior Vice President for Construction, Facilities and Operations Jim Creedon explained to the trustees. “We’ll certainly clean up the site, landscape the area, make sure we get some grass growing, and add some benches and lighting.”

The committee also approved recommendations to renovate central heating and air conditioning systems for Speakman and Anderson halls, fire alarms and sprinklers for Ritter Hall and Ritter Annex and new elevators for the Bell Building, which houses the TECH Center.

The trustees will also improve security for the Telecommunications area on the third floor of the Bell Building to make space for five network employees from Fox Chase.

“The Bell Building is really the last open space area we have,” Creedon said. “We try to use it judiciously.”

The Academic Affairs committee met that morning first in executive session before moving to public session. The committee approved five recommendations, including the go-ahead to Theobald’s recommendation regarding granting of faculty tenure, and also approved tenure for a list of faculty, which is available at the Office of the Provost.

“Some tenure cases were presented to the Academic Affairs Committee,” Assistant Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development Erin Palmer said, adding that the committee would review them and may disclose the results at the next general body meeting.

When asked if the tenure cases were related to African American studies professor Anthony Monteiro, Palmer said she had no comment.

The trustees will next meet on May 13 at 3:30 p.m.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

Board selects Seattle-based management for OAR fund

Posted on by

Temple will hire the Seattle-based Pugh Capital Management to manage its fixed-income Operating and Auxiliary Reserves fund, the investments committee of the Board of Trustees announced in a meeting Wednesday morning.

Pugh, which has $2.8 billion in assets, also manages the investment portfolio for corporations and the University of Washington.

Kaiser told the trustees that his office, with help from Temple’s financial advisors Cambridge Financial Associates, considered five firms and interviewed three before recommending Pugh.

The university will notify Pugh this week and ask for a final fee negotiation, which Kaiser said was currently 26.7 basis points, or 0.267 percent of the managed assets. Investments committee chair and local investment banker Christopher McNichol said that he would like to see the fee reduced, and noted that the committee only approved the selection of Pugh, not the fee.

The OAR fund exists to manage university debts through the use of fixed income sources, Kaiser said.  Since the income is fixed, no risk is involved. “You just need to align your investments with your liabilities,” he explained. Though his office could manage the fund, it was more efficient to leave it to Pugh.

The Investments committee recommended that the OAR Fund, founded in 1984 as the Retirement of Indebtedness Fund, be renamed in a meeting March 26, a resolution waiting for approval at the May 13 general body meeting.  The general body rarely rejects committee recommendations.

The trustees’ audit committee met at 2 p.m. in executive session and lasted about an hour, Kaiser said.

The next trustees meeting is the facilities committee on May 5 at 12 p.m., a newly rescheduled date from the originally scheduled April 30 meeting.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

TSG holds penultimate meeting

Posted on by

Temple Student Government held its second-to-last general assembly of the semester Monday, and announcements were made about a new role for TSG in Temple’s Board of Trustees and preparations for a transitioning to the next administration under Ray Smergilio.

Student Body President Darin Bartholomew announced that TSG will now be giving an address at each Board of Trustees general assembly meeting, starting on May 10. Bartholomew said he would deliver the first address, focusing on off- and on-campus security, alumni school pride and food services.

“I’m really excited because this is a way to get more student input to the board,” Bartholomew said. “They have been incredibly receptive about that.”

While TSG was previously allowed appointees to the board’s public committee meetings, it did not have a garunteed voice at gatherings of the entire board.

Incoming student body president Ray Smeriglio announced his administration is looking for students to fill TSG executive positions. Applications are due April 25.

Next week, TSG’s current administration will update the constitution before the new group takes office.

Morgan Jenkins, director of local and community affairs, invited students to volunteer for the Adopt-a-Block beautification program on May 3. In an open forum at the meeting, students discussed ways to use Adopt-a-Block to unify Temple and the surrounding community instead of just participating in a clean-up effort.

Captain Eileen Bradley of Campus Safety Services said that ideally block captains and residents work with volunteering students, but participation has died down since winter.

Trustees hold committee meetings on finances and policy

Posted on by

Temple will pay off Temple Japan’s debts, shift a small pension plan from monthly payments to one final lump sum and allow different offices to have their own credit cards, the Board of Trustees announced at two committee meetings today.

Temple Japan owes $6.3 million on a loan that could be paid off now since the dollar’s value is high, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Ken Kaiser explained to the trustees. Paying off the loan immediately would save about $1.2 million.

“This seems like a no-brainer,” Chairman Patrick O’Connor said. The recommendation was passed with one motion to abstain from trustee J. William Mills, who is PNC Bank’s Regional President for Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. The loan in question was a PNC loan.

The executive committee also discussed the termination of the Interest Pension Plan, a plan started in 1946 that gives retired employees annuity payments. MetLife, the disperser of the payments, urged Temple to reform the plan.

Of the initial 200 signed up, 28 retired employees still draw from the fund. They will be given a lump sum that can be re-invested into another retirement plan, Kaiser said. The fund’s total value is $185,000.

The third recommendation concerned an amendment of a policy concerning credit cards for university offices to pay certain expenses. With the new policy, there will be a higher spending threshold before offices are required to obtain administrative pre-approval.

The Budget and Finance Committee met first in executive session before moving to public session, and made one recommendation concerning Temple Japan’s finances. Then the meeting shifted to casual chatting, where Provost Hai-Lung Dai and President Neil Theobald, when asked about the current state of admissions, revealed that 28 thousand students were competing for 4,700 undergraduate seats.

The executive committee met next and made the three recommendations. The public session meeting, which consisted of many of the trustees from the Budget and Finance Committee including McNichol and Lewis Gould Jr., lasted for about fifteen minutes.

The trustees’ general body will meet on May 13 at 3:30 p.m.

Joe Brandt can be reached at joseph.brandt@temple.edu or on Twitter at @JBrandt_TU.

Investments committee renames account

Posted on by

The Investments Committee of Temple’s Board of Trustees will rename and re-purpose its Retirement of Indebtedness Fund, it announced at a public session meeting today in Sullivan Hall.

The new fund, now called the Operating and Auxiliary Reserves Fund, will still provide investment support to the auxiliary and operating budgets for debt-financed projects as the predecessor did.

The trustees present, among them committee chair Christopher McNichol in person and Nelson Diaz by phone, agreed that the name change would better reflect the fund’s purpose and eliminate the misconception that the fund’s function is to repay university debt.

The committee also moved to revise parts of the Investment Policies to include guidelines for the new fund. The fund will be allowed up to a 50 percent allocation in U.S. corporate bonds deemed “high-quality.”

This allocation would add about 55 basis points to the investment. One basis point is equivalent to a value rise of one hundredth of one percent.

“It would only slightly change the risk profile,” Ken Kaiser, Temple’s chief financial officer and treasurer said in his explanation to the trustees.

This change is part of an ongoing effort to structure the other investment pools and funds similarly to the pension and post-retirement funds, which have fixed income allocations.

The management of the pension and post-retirement funds was shifted in February from RS Investments to Van Eck Associates Corporation, a larger firm based in New York City.

The meeting met first in executive session at 10 a.m. before moving to public session from 10:25 a.m.-10:35 a.m. It moved back to executive session at that time.

The next Investments committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, at 10 a.m.

Joe Brandt can be reached at joseph.brandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU. 

Spokesman: Athletic cuts not on tomorrow’s BOT agenda

Posted on by

The university’s decision to eliminate seven intercollegiate sports from its NCAA sponsorship will not be an item on the agenda for tomorrow’s Board of Trustees meeting, a university spokesman said.

“It’s already been voted on and approved by the board,” said Ray Betzner, associate vice president for executive communications. “The issue’s already been decided.”

The Board of Trustees approved a recommendation from Athletic Director Kevin Clark on Friday to cut baseball, softball, men’s gymnastics, men’s crew, women’s rowing and men’s indoor and outdoor track & field, effective July 1, 2014. Betzner said no representatives from any of these sports or any other sports are scheduled to speak at the meeting.

When Temple was kicked out of the Big East Conference in 2001, men’s basketball coach John Chaney gave the president’s report in place of President David Adamany at a board meeting less than two weeks after the announcement. A representative from the women’s basketball team, Athletic Director Dave O’Brien and chairman Howard Gittis also gave presentations on athletics.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be held in public session at 3:30 p.m. on the 27th floor of Morgan Hall.

Budget and Finance Committee holds first meeting of 2013

Posted on by

In its first meeting of the year, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees recommended that an authorized signer be added for the William C. Dunkelberg Owl Fund.

Cynthia Axelrod, a faculty adviser to the Temple University Investment Association and director of the Owl Fund, was recommended as a signer for accounts on behalf of the fund.

The Owl Fund, a student-run investment organization run through TUIA, was founded in 2006 and has more than 150 members, according to TUIA’s website.

Axelrod joins Jonathan Scott, managing director of the fund, Anthony Wagner, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer and Ken Kaiser, senior associate vice president for finance and human resources, as signers for the fund.

Leon Moulder, Jr., who called into the meeting, participated in his first meeting as a trustee. Moulder was appointed as a trustee at the December meeting.

Theobald set to become university’s 10th president

Posted on by

Nearly 11 months after former president Ann Weaver Hart announced that she would not be returning to Temple this summer, the Presidential Search Committee announced in an email that it will recommend Neil Theobald, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University, to become Temple’s next president.

Patrick J. O’Connor, chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee said in an email Friday morning that Theobald will be recommended to the Board of Trustees on Aug. 7, and pending the trustees’ vote, will become president on Jan. 1.

“After reviewing…submissions and interviewing dozens of candidates, we came to the unanimous decision that Neil Theobald has the experience, vision and proven track record to lead this great university,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said that Theobald’s record as a teacher and his dedication for making education affordable and accessible, made him an ideal candidate for president.

“At Indiana, he made the tough decisions demanded by our times, while creating greater opportunities for student scholarship,” O’Connor said. “I can’t think of a better set of values to bring to the Temple presidency.”

Theobald will be on Main Campus Monday and Tuesday to meet with students and faculty and to attend the Board of Trustees meeting.

Check back with temple-news.com for more information on Temple’s new president.