Recap of the March 2021 Board of Trustees Meeting

In the spirit of information-sharing and with a commitment to fostering openness among the St. John’s University community, we are pleased to share some of the topics, highlights, and action items discussed at the most recent meeting of the Board of Trustees held on March 10, 2021. We look forward to regularly sharing with you additional and timely information on these and other initiatives in the months ahead.

• Creation of the Institute for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES)
  In keeping with the University’s mission to search out the causes of social injustice and to encourage solutions that are adaptable, effective, and concrete, St. John’s is launching a new Institute for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES). The CRES Institute will be led by Natalie P. Byfield, Ph.D., CRES Founding Director, and Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Jean-Pierre M. Ruiz, Ph.D., CRES Assistant Director and Professor, Theology and Religious Studies. Housed in the Office of the Provost, the CRES Institute aims to imagine, create, sustain, and promote practices of human flourishing and use critical race and ethnic studies approaches to address systemic racism and the intersecting forms of oppression that accompany it locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. The CRES Institute will foster collaboration among and between University faculty, administrators, and staff with corporate, nonprofit, and other community partners, and will honor the knowledges and practices that have long existed outside the formal University structures and settings. The CRES Institute will complement the diversity, equity, and inclusion measures already underway at St. John’s. 
   
• Diversity-Investment Manager Selection Process
  St. John’s University is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a Catholic and Vincentian institution, this commitment is at the very heart of our mission. St. John’s endowment is invested with a long-term perspective by a diversified portfolio of investment managers to provide a perpetual source of financial support to the University. St. John’s and the endowment’s investment managers have a fiduciary duty to ensure the long-term health of the endowment by seeking to maximize investment returns for given levels of risk. Current and prospective investment managers are evaluated across a broad range of factors to ensure that investment objectives are met. Diversity in background, experience, and perspective can expand creative insight and mitigate risk in group analysis and decision making. Including diversity among the factors that St. John’s considers when evaluating investment managers provides a means to align the University’s commitment to diversity with its legal, moral, ethical, and fiduciary responsibilities. Incorporating diversity is not intended to result in the exclusion of specific investments based on this factor alone – it is intended as an aid to improving the endowment’s long-term risk-adjusted returns. On the recommendation of the Resource Management and Partnerships Committee, the Investment Policy was updated to include diversity among the factors that St. John’s considers when evaluating investment managers.
   
• Construction of a New Health Sciences Center
  The construction of a new Health Sciences Center at the Queens Campus was approved by the Board to support and house existing and forthcoming health sciences programs in one facility. The proposed scope of work includes taking down St. Vincent Hall to construct a new academic building with classrooms, laboratories, simulation facilities, office space, student services, collaborative spaces, and a large auditorium (a total of 67,000 square feet). Based upon estimates from a professional firm and construction manager, the proposed new Health Sciences Center is estimated to cost approximately $78 million. This capital project will be funded through increased fundraising efforts, debt issuance, government grants, and other sources of income. Work is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2021, and we project the building to be ready for occupancy and available for students and classes by fall 2024. The Health Sciences Center will promote Interprofessional Education amongst existing academic programs and will enable students to learn together and work as a team, similar to the real-world situation found in any clinical setting. Additionally, the new Health Sciences Center will house state-of-the-art simulation facilities for students to learn in a safe and realistic clinical environment before embarking upon required clinical rotation requirements at off-campus sites.
   
• Dax Program for students facing emergency housing needs
  Mindful that when the basic needs of students are met, they have a greater likelihood of achieving academic success, the University aims to directly address the issue of our students who experience housing insecurity and homelessness. While St. John’s has always addressed the basic needs of many of these students, the University wants to offer a more robust program. Responding to that need, there are plans for DePaul USA to use existing University-owned houses to establish the “Dax Program: New York”. Through the Dax Program, qualified students pay a minimum rent of $150 per month and work a minimum of 10 hours per week. In addition to housing, they receive food, case management, counseling referrals, and textbook assistance. Upon graduation, a three-month extension helps to ensure a smooth transition into the workforce and market-rate housing.

As a reminder to the members of the St. John’s community, the University’s Board of Trustees currently consists of 23 members: 10 from the Vincentian community and 13 from the lay community.

The Board of Trustees will next meet in May 2021. We will provide an update to the University community soon after that meeting.