Miami University

RedHawks Approved

04/02/1997

OXFORD, Ohio -- The Miami University board of trustees today voted

unanimously to change the university's athletic nickname to RedHawks effective

June 30.

The resolution calls on trustees to also adopt the Miami Indian head

design, based on the portrait by artist John A. Ruthven as a logo of the

university and directs President James Garland to undertake appropriate

measures to effect the resolution.

The board thanked Dr. Phillip Shriver, president emeritus, and the

Athletic Nickname Selection Committee for their work in reviewing ideas for the

nickname from many loyal alumni, faculty, staff, students and fans of

Miami.

The committee had reviewed 3,000 nickname suggestions (700 different

names).

In a separate resolution of appreciation, the board honored Shriver for 50

years of teaching. The trustees "proudly applaud Dr. Shriver for his vast

achievements in the classroom and his influence over thousands of students

during the past 50 years, all the while showing us his patience, his enjoyment,

his humor and his love."

The trustees also took the following action:

* Approved a pay plan for classified staff. The new plan, based on

salary surveys conducted more than a year ago, will reduce the number of job

titles by 55 percent and the number of pay grades from 15 to 12. According to

Edward J. Demske, senior vice president for finance and university services,

the pay grades will be a modified broad-band system in which each band will

contain two zones that will provide more flexibility and growth in positions

than the current system.

The new pay plan will cover more than 1,500 staff members. Though the

final cost projections are not yet available, due to some minor adjustments

that still need to be made, Demske projects that the adjustment pool will be

approximately 2 percent of the current classified staff salary pool.

The new plan should be in place by the fall. All raises will be

retroactive to July 1996. The board also directed Demske to work with the

American Federation of State, County

and Municipal Employees, which represents about half of all classified

employees, to implement the plan for its members.

* Unanimously passed miscellaneous 1997-98 fees for the Oxford,

Hamilton and Middletown campuses. These include fees for admission,

application, career planning and placement, facility rentals, graduation and

more.

The fees generally are of two types, Demske said. Some, such as the

application fee, apply uniformly to all students at a particular time in their

Miami career. Other fees, such as those for the Student Health Center, are

assessed based on the services provided.

* Approved an appropriation changing fees and charges for men's

basketball game tickets, football and men's basketball (combination game

tickets), ice hockey game tickets, women's basketball tickets, and basketball

parking.

The recommendation to change prices came from Intercollegiate Athletics.

The new fees will begin with the 1997-98 basketball and ice hockey

seasons.

Many categories of season tickets for men's basketball will increase by

$10. General public tickets will go from $75 in 1996-97 to $85 in 1997-98.

Tickets for faculty and staff will now cost $75, from $65 in 1996-97. Senior

citizen prices will increase to $75. The group rate tickets, used for business

promotion, will be discontinued. Prices for the mini-package will remain the

same.

Trustees also heard a presentation from Peter Miller, senior director for

auxiliary services and university dining, on the various program reviews

undertaken by the individual units of Housing, Dining and Guest Services.

These reviews were all favorable and pointed out that the staff in each

of these areas is responsive to its customers and strives to provide high

quality products and services at a reasonable cost.

Miami's dining program was judged to be one of the premier college and

university food services in the nation. Although Miller thanked all of his

staff, he reminded them that in their business, "They are only as good as the

last meal served."

Demske also discussed the status of the state budget for fiscal year 1998.

Both the executive and house versions of the budget recommended a $1.6 million

or 2.8 percent increase, as compared to the Ohio Board of Regents'

recommendation of a $3.2 million or 5.5 percent increase as an appropriate

state

contribution toward increasing support on the Oxford campus.

The original recommendation of the Board of Regents would have permitted

the Oxford campus to raise tuition $360 per year. The executive budget had a

tuition cap of 4 percent, with 1 percent assigned for student financial aid,

Demske said.

He pointed out that just applying a CPI adjustment of 2.7 percent to the

Oxford budget for salaries, benefits and operating budgets would require a $5.5

million increase. When these are combined with commitments to increase faculty

and staff salaries to appropriate market levels, mandated expenditures and

program needs, the Oxford campus' cost estimates increase between $10 and $11.3

million.

The revenue, still undetermined at this point, would have an increment on

the low side (executive and house version) of $8.1 million to $12.1 million, as

outlined in the Regents' proposal, he said.

Demske expressed his hope that the Senate will add funds to the state

instructional subsidy.

Board member Sister Jean Patrice Harrington urged that the Senate

eliminate the fee cap and rely on individual Boards of Trustees to make the

appropriate judgments on fees since they have the best knowledge of each

individual campus' circumstances.