Report from the Board of Trustees

Chaired by Brackett B. Denniston ’69, the Kenyon College Board of Trustees met in Gambier on April 19–20. The opening plenary featured a panel of students, faculty and staff, who offered their perspectives on the campus climate with respect to free expression, diversity and inclusion. Several trustees attended a campus lecture by New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb the evening before on “The Half-Life of Freedom: Race and Justice in America Today.”

The board heard an update on the research conducted this spring by the firm Simpson Scarborough assessing current perceptions of the College. Zali Win ’84, chair of the Philander Chase Conservancy Board of Trustees, presented on the conservancy’s priorities and recent initiatives, and Kenyon Review Trustee Grace Keefe Huebscher ’82 reported on the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement and programs supported by its annual fundraising activities. The board also heard from Civil Rights/Title IX Coordinator Samantha Hughes on proposed changes to the College’s discrimination policy.

The Student Affairs Committee met with members of Student Council to discuss current campus concerns, including mental health support services and the removal of dishes from the dining hall. The Academic Affairs Committee met with members of the faculty and reviewed the latest data on student retention, graduation and post-graduation outcomes.

Trustee Todd P. Leavitt ’73 P’10 received the Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his history of service to the College.

In other business, the Board:

• Approved three faculty promotions.

• Adopted a memorial resolution honoring Rowland Hughes Shepard, professor emeritus of psychology, who taught at Kenyon for two decades.

• Approved a resolution to publicly launch a multi-year fundraising campaign on October 13, 2018.

• Acknowledged the contributions of outgoing board members Ruth E. Fisher, after a four-year term as a parent trustee; Todd P. Leavitt ’73 P’10, after a four-year term as an alumni trustee; R. Todd Ruppert ’78, after a six-year term as an at-large trustee; and Christopher P. Toft, after a four-year term as an alumni trustee.

• Elected William T. Spitz P’08 as trustee emeritus in honor of his 13 years of service on the Kenyon College Board of Trustees.

• Approved new board members Susan Berger ’85 and Larae Schraeder ’97 as alumni trustees serving four-year terms; Diane Elam ’80 as a trustee-at-large filling one remaining year on an open seat; and Richard Hoskins P’21 as a parent trustee serving a four-year term.

• Elected Judy Hoff Gilbert ’91 as secretary of the Board of Trustees and Kathryn Brechler Lake as assistant secretary.