Petoskey - Less than 15 minutes after the MSU Board of Trustees left the conference room of the Bay Harbor Yacht Club in this northern Michigan resort town on Wednesday, wait staff had cleared dirty dishes, straightened chairs and attached a large, yellow padlock around the handles of the double wooden doors.
"They requested it for their documents," club manager Lisa Speehare said. "I've never had to do this before."
The trustees remained quiet about what happened inside the small room overlooking Little Traverse Bay and million-dollar boats. Wednesday was the first of their annual three-day planning retreat, and the six-hour meeting was closed to the public and members of the media.
"These are long-term planning issues," Trustee Randall Pittman said. "I can talk more at the end (of the retreat)."
The club in Petoskey is in an alcove of the bay with luxurious homes and hotels stretching out on thin peninsulas into the water. The spotless white yachts are tied to dozens of long docks and both club staff and members speed around in customized golf carts. Pittman and his wife, Mary Pittman, hosted the MSU guests for the retreat.
The trustees' annual getaway comes after a summer filled with major decisions and issues for the university.
In May, the board voted to move the majority of MSU's medical school to Grand Rapids and saw President M. Peter McPherson announce his retirement.
In June, they voted in Provost Lou Anna Simon as the next university president and passed a budget, while struggling with financial difficulties at the university and state level.
Still ongoing is the attempt to land funding for the $1 billion Rare Isotope Accelerator project and planning for the university's 150th anniversary.
"Every year, the board sets several days aside in the summertime to sit down with the administration and plan for the year ahead," said Trustee David Porteous, board chairman, before leaving for the retreat on Tuesday.
Both McPherson and Simon were at Wednesday's meeting, though McPherson arrived late in the afternoon.
Porteous said board members are in a unique position this year because they are looking ahead to new leadership with Simon taking the reigns in January.
"If you were to look at when are planning retreats critical, this would rank up there as one of the top ones," he said.
An entire binder of materials was compiled for the retreat, almost 8 inches thick. Various green and white pages were organized under tabs such as "Research," "Faculty & Staff," and "Finance." Some of those documents were left in the conference room for the night behind the padlocked doors.
Trustees wouldn't say which topics were most important over the several days of meetings or what items were scheduled first.
Trustee Dorothy Gonzales said on Tuesday she was concerned about the university's budget and students' ability to pay tuition.
"Some students don't have the support," she said.
"Our parents never had the money to send us to college."
Trustees wouldn't comment on whether budget issues came up at Wednesday's meeting.
"We talk about RIA, the medical school, the ongoing things we've been talking about all year," Trustee Colleen McNamara said. "At a retreat, you want things to be open and candid."
