This weekend, from March 2 to March 4, Hamilton’s Board of Trustees visited campus for their annual spring meeting. As outlined in President Wippman’s letter sent out to the campus community on Tuesday, March 7, trustees participated in meetings across a range of subjects and departments.
On Friday, trustees met with Vice President for Enrollment Monica Inzer to learn about the newly admitted Class of 2027 before acceptance letters are sent out at the end of the month. Similarly, trustees were walked through faculty data regarding a variety of statistics, including retention and growth, by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Ngoni Munemo. Furthermore, board committees, including the Committee on Student Affairs, congregated to discuss campus developments such as the Sadove Student Center basement renovations.
On Saturday, the formal board meeting was conducted. As outlined by President Wippman in his message, at this event he “spoke about several current topics in higher education and shared the good news that the Village of Clinton and the Town of Kirkland were awarded a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant by New York State.” Finally, Trustees also “approved tenure and promotion to associate professor for 10 faculty members effective July 1, 2023.”
Throughout the course of the weekend, several students were also invited to speak with the board at different points to discuss a range of experiences, such as their participation in research and study abroad programs. Students like Esther Schriever ’26 also interacted with trustees at Friday’s Chabad dinner. “You could tell that they were really happy to be there… they seemed super close with the rabbi, Didy, which was really nice” she said.
The Career Center hosted a networking reception on Friday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m. in which the Class of 2023 were able to speak with the Trustees. Seniors were informed that “Trustees will be on campus to meet you and help practice those valuable networking skills. Intimidated by the word “trustee”? Remember, they were once students — just like you! They are eager to help you practice networking skills in the safe space of the Hamilton network. And, build connections with trustees while you’re at it!” according to the event’s promotional materials.
Despite some students being invited to speak with trustees, many other students were unaware of their visit. Schriever notes how other than Chabad, she did not see the trustees on campus whatsoever, echoing a sentiment shared by other students as well. Schriever says she “can’t say it was so surprising and nice to see them there.” For the most part, students either saw groups of Trustees in passing, such as in Commons, or did not see them at all.
Overall, while the weekend resulted in substantial Board and committee meetings, much of the student community was unaware of the Trustees presence this weekend, though they will undoubtedly be impacted by the Board’s decisions in the future.
