Board Busy during Visit
	The Ithaca College Board of Trustees met from Wednesday, February 18, to Friday, February 20. The board discussed a variety of campus programs and initiatives and took a number of actions. The board approved a 1998-99 operating budget totaling nearly $144.3 million, a 4.9% increase over the current year. The budget includes a 4% increase in the salary increment pool for faculty and staff, and a 4.5% increase in the tuition rate. Board members also witnessed a demonstration of "smart" classroom technology in Textor 102; attended a presentation from Ithaca College Gerontology Institute director John Krout and Ithacare executive director Mark Macera '76 on the status of collaborations between the institute and Ithacare's Longview life-care community currently under construction adjacent to campus; were briefed on efforts to schedule a session on campus as part of President Clinton's national Initiative on Race; and heard an update on plans for formal partnerships between the College and both the South Hill Elementary School in Ithaca and the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem. Trustees met and mingled with invited groups of faculty, staff, administrators, and students at an afternoon "coffee hour" reception. Individual board members also took opportunities to work with students and faculty. William Haines, chairman and chief executive officer of The Bromley Companies, spoke in several classes in the School of Business; Sam Shmikler '77, president of The Periscope Organization, held a technology workshop for faculty members on Saturday, February 21; and Bob Kur '70, national correspondent for NBC News, and David Stewart '67, director of community relations for Cornell University, took part in Network '98, a program bringing together alumni with graduating seniors sponsored jointly by the Office of Career Planning and Placement, Office of Alumni Relations, and Southern Tier Alumni Club.