The February meeting of Houghton College’s Board of Trustees took place last weekend, February 8-9, during which the key issues facing the college were addressed.
Among the subjects covered were the sale of the Willard J. Houghton foundation’s old property of Star Lake, the renovation of the Alumni House, a facilities audit, and most notably, the Kerr-Pegula project.
The Board also honored Professor Ron Oakerson, political science, for his work in Sierra Leone—recognizing his leadership of the Houghton partnership on the mango outdoors project there.
The finalized sale of Star Lake, previously owned by the Willard J. Houghton foundation, and formerly the site of Houghton’s now discontinued Adirondacks semester, was another topic approached. The property’s new owners have looked at the possibility of using the property for a Christian camp.
The sale of the property is, in a way, indicative of a larger move on the part of the foundation. The foundation was formed “to work with properties, and now the Willard J. Houghton foundation is moving away from community development toward building funds for endowment,” said President Mullen about the focus shift. “A lot of colleges have foundations that raise funds for the college, that have more flexibility in the kinds of gifts they can receive than a non-profit does…the focus is toward building the endowment for the college.”
An interesting effect of this old community development focus of the foundation is the fact many of the buildings along the Houghton main street, Route 19, are properties purchased at one time by the foundation.
Foundation focuses aside, the Board also addressed the renovations of the Alumni House, which will hopefully serve as “A place where people can connect with alumni and network,” President Mullen said.
The financial resources for the extensive renovations of the house are the not result of funds being extracted from students’ tuition, but instead from fund-raising specifically for the house, and in part, from undesignated estate gifts.
In addition, an audit of the Houghton College facilities is underway; Sodexo has been working with the chief business officer to develop a plan “[to help] us systematically plan for short-term and long-term care of our facilities,” Mullen explained. This way, when the facilities require repair and maintenance, the budget to take care of the facilities’ needs is already in place.
Perhaps the topic most interesting to students is the status of the Kerr-Pegula project.
“The board authorized the administration to seek contractor bids for the project, and to complete a funding plan that would include a fundraising component as well as financing component,”
Mullen said. “[This plan] will be presented on or around May 1st,” when further decisions about proceeding with the project will be made.
