Campus Space Issues Addressed

Northern administrators are looking beyond enrollment growth in their continuing effort to reduce per-student costs to a level comparable with peer institutions. At Monday’s forum, Mike Roy (Finance and Administration) said Northern’s annual plant operations budget is $3.1 million higher than the average of 10 state universities used for comparison purposes. By leveraging the asset of physical space, Roy said NMU could reduce facilities costs and apply the funds to other areas.

Three possibilities that have been explored include selling buildings to entities that share the university’s mission, demolishing buildings that are not being used, and leasing space to non-profit or for-profit businesses whose interests align with Northern’s.

“We were in discussions with a local business about the option of selling the Jacobetti Center building to them, but we decided that wasn’t feasible,” Roy added. “But we’ve been talking with representatives from Marquette County and Telkite about leasing space at Sawyer so that we could move our aviation maintenance, collision repair and automotive programs out there. This would free up a whole wing of Jacobetti to allow us to move other operations into there.”

Roy said NMU is nearing an agreement to lease Jacobetti space to local trade unions during off-peak hours. Another lease arrangement is being formalized with Marquette General Hospital to establish a cytogenetics and molecular biology lab in three classrooms on the third floor of West Science. “Over the years, we’ve also been in discussions with MGH about better utilizing our facilities in coordination with them – particularly the University Center. We’re in the conceptual stage of working more closely with them in the use of the U.C."

He added, "There are a lot of balls in the air, and where they will all settle I’m not sure. But there are a lot of options we’re considering to better utilize space and leverage it so we can generate revenue while still having some connection to academic programs.”

Roy said Carey Hall will likely be torn down. The university had considered several options for use of the building, including retirement condominiums.  The condo idea was scrapped when further investigation revealed that the only project in the nation remotely similar had been unsuccessful. Plans are in the works to renovate the adjacent Lee Hall, primarily through private funds. It will house the U.P. Heritage Museum, Alumni Relations, the NMU Foundation, a restaurant-type facility – currently known as the “NMU Club” – and a restored second-floor ballroom.

The Cohodas renovation is on the capital outlay list awaiting legislative approval. Roy said the building’s “administrative center” moniker is no longer an accurate reflection, as more than 50 percent of the building is or will be used for academic purposes.

In other developments related to physical space on campus, Roy said NMU is looking at the following options: a solid-fuel addition to the Ripley Heating Plant that would burn coal and wood, reducing utility costs and giving the local economy a boost; a new software program that will provide a common database for campus entities that regularly schedule rooms and produce reports that will more effectively monitor space usage; and a location in the LRC to establish a branch for a local bank that recently made a successful bid to make its accounts accessible through the university’s ID card system.

President Les Wong gave a legislative budget update. He will testify before a House subcommittee later this month. While NMU would gain more than $800,000 in state funding under the previously released executive and senate proposals, Wong said the increase would be swallowed up by the university’s projected $827,000 increase in contributions to the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System, or MPSERS.

“Seven campuses are still part of MPSERS,” Wong said. “The state says we must cover pension and health care costs for employees in this program, but we don’t get any additional money to do that. It’s essentially an unfunded mandate. Northern’s total costs are about $2.3 million just for health. The $827,000 is just the increase for next year – not the overall cost.”

Wong said the state minimum wage hike, to be phased in over three years, amounts to another unfunded mandate. It will have a $1.6 million impact on NMU, divided between the general and auxiliary funds.