BGSU's Ribeau gets 3 percent pay raise

6/30/2001
Ribeau: to be paid $227,272.
Ribeau: to be paid $227,272.

BOWLING GREEN - Dr. Sidney Ribeau, president of Bowling Green State University for six years, now will be paid $227,272 a year.

He received a 3 per cent wage increase and his contract was extended two years by the BGSU board of trustees yesterday.

“All the board members sat down and talked about the leadership he has brought to this university,” said Kermit Stroh, outgoing president of the board. “He's a great person.”

The board approved the 3 percent pay increase for Dr. Ribeau - the same amount it voted to give faculty in merit raises - just minutes after upping tuition and fees for undergraduate students by 8.1 percent.

Dr. Daniel Johnson, who becomes the University of Toledo's president tomorrow, will be paid $215,000. UT raised its tuition and fees by 9 percent Wednesday.

Hired in 1995, Dr. Ribeau has spearheaded efforts focusing on values exploration, critical thinking, character development, and civic engagement.

“What I would like to do is assure some of the new initiatives we've started in the last four years are completed,” Dr. Ribeau said. “This is a chance to really institutionalize that.”

The tuition hike means resident undergraduate students this fall will pay an extra $420 a year. Costs for those students will rise from $5,184 to $5,604.

Graduate students' tuition will be $7,296, compared to $6,750 last year. The surcharge for out-of-state students will rise to $6,252 from $5,898. Tuition at Firelands College, BGSU's regional campus in Huron, Ohio, will remain $3,186.

University officials stressed that while this year's budget was a tight one, especially since the state shifted some higher-education funds to K-12 education, the tuition increase would have been the same even if a tuition cap of 6 percent had not been eliminated by state legislators.

That's because part of the increase will go toward capital projects, which were exempt from the fee caps. That money will pay for technology infrastructure improvements and air conditioning at the recreation center, said Dr. Chris Dalton, senior vice president for finance and administration.

Another undetermined increase in the school's general fee is anticipated for this spring to help with the renovated student union, which is expected to open in January, Dr. Dalton said.

Dr. Ribeau said BGSU fared better than some other public Ohio universities because of its enrollment growth in recent years. Its head count increased by 6.6 percent between fall, 1996, and fall, 2000, resulting in a 2.8 percent increase in its subsidy from the state for next year.

“[Enrollment growth] has created a buffer for us and allowed us to continue our mission as an institution,” he said.

In the $192 million educational budget adopted for the fiscal year beginning tomorrow, the board had to contend with rising utility costs, a 20 percent spike in health-care costs, and salary increases, among other things.

While the faculty senate in May passed a resolution calling for a 6 percent salary increase to make BGSU wages more competitive, Dr. Benjamin Muego, vice chairman of the group, said he was pleased with the 3 percent merit raises approved for continuing faculty and staff and the additional 0.75 percent to go toward super-merit increases for faculty.

“I think we feel fortunate for even having a salary increase given the really precarious financial situation in Columbus,” he said.

In other business, the trustees named David Bryan of Perrysburg board president and Valerie Newell of Cincinnati vice president.