On Thursday morning, the UNF Board of Trustees (BOT) met for the first time this month to discuss the budget and how UNF was handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those who aren’t familiar with the BOT, it is a group of 13 members, six being appointed  by the Florida Governor, and five appointed by the Board of Governors. All eleven of these have to be confirmed by the state Senate. The other two members are the UNF Student Government president, and the president of the Faculty Association. 

The Board of Trustees is one of the most influential bodies in this school, and its decisions and allocations determine the quality of campus life for the foreseeable future.

The meeting began with the president’s remarks.President Szymanski expressed his pride with the UNF community and their response to the pandemic, elaborating that only 1% of all faculty and staff tested for the coronavirus returned positive results, and most of them were students living off-campus. This is especially impressive when compared to the greater Jacksonville area, which, according to Szymanski, had a positive test rate of 11%. 

The Board then proceeded to review the mission statement, which stated:

“Our student-centered mission is to create the next generation of thinkers, leaders, and problem solvers with the knowledge and experience to uniquely change the world.”

Vice President Scott Bennett proceeded to give the financial report in the millions of dollars in allocations available to the university. He then gave out examples of recently completed construction projects like the renovation of the Science and Engineering Building; current construction projects like the construction of a new swimming pool and future projects like a remodel of the Roy Lassiter Hall.

The meeting ended with the approval vote to move forward with funding these projects, which passed. 

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