Room and board rates among other actions regents will take at December meeting

Hemenway to be named Chancellor Emeritus

Janice Taliaferro, left, and Ben Taliaferro, 12, help Kasey Taliaferro, an incoming Kansas University freshman from Berryton, move into Templin Hall.

The Kansas Board of Regents will take final action on a proposed 2.65 percent increase in room and board at Kansas University.

Under the proposal, the combined room and meal plan for a typical double-occupancy room at a residence hall at KU would increase $180, from $6,802 to $6,982 per academic year.

The six regents schools are proposing increases ranging from 1 percent at Fort Hays State University to 4.7 percent at Pittsburg State University. Kansas State University has proposed a 3 percent increase, which would raise its $6,752 rate by $202 to $6,954.

The regents will vote on the issue Thursday.

Even with the proposed increases, the cost of room and board will remain below the average for public institutions in the Midwest, the regents staff said.

Diana Robertson, director of KU’s Department of Student Housing, said failure to pass the proposed increase could “compromise the department’s ability to finance future renovation projects.”

Approximately 5,100 KU students live in student housing facilities. The annual operating budget of the housing operations is about $21.5 million.

In other business, the regents next week will consider proposals to:

• Authorize $12.95 million in bonds for renovation of the Jayhawker Towers residences. The first phase of the project was completed in August and the second phase will be bid in January.

• Adopt a resolution to designate Robert Hemenway as chancellor emeritus. Hemenway stepped down from the chancellor’s position earlier this year.

• Authorize naming the Structural Biology Center. KU has not revealed what name it has proposed yet. The $27.7 million building was completed in October 2008.

• Receive a report from KU Chancellor Gray-Little on the regents’ managment review of the university.