That discrepancy necessitated Friday’s special board meeting, McCann said, where the board voted on a revised version of the resolution. 

Friday’s 5-3 revote in favor of the resolution was the same as the vote at the April 11 meeting, with Trustees Mike Balow, Dennis Denno, and Rema Vassar again dissenting. It officially brings the annual cost of housing and a silver unlimited meal plan for undergraduates to $12,928 for the 2025-2026 academic year, the revised resolution said. 

Balow, during brief discussion on the resolution, said he wouldn’t be voting no because he was against "appropriate" rate increases to balance the budget. Rather, he voted no because when he and other trustees initially sought clarity from administrators prior to the April 11 meeting on how the new rate was decided, they didn’t receive that information "in a timely fashion."

"As we talked about and will talk about, we’re going to do a better job of getting trustees the information that they ask for in the weeks leading up to this, which I think was part of the problem," Balow said. "Just so people understand, a no vote is not random, it’s because there were some reservations about getting information in a timely fashion."

Those comments echoed similar sentiments raised by Denno at the April 11 meeting, who said that in the lead up to the board meeting, he didn’t receive satisfactory answers from administrators to questions about how exactly the 2.9% figure was landed on, among other budgetary concerns. 

During that earlier meeting, Balow and Denno also justified their no vote with concerns over where exactly the money from students room and board fees is going. 

The money students pay for room and board solely constitutes the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services operating budget, according to the original resolution. That budget funds campus dining halls and dorm buildings; though some money is pulled to support broader university initiatives, like the free CATA bus service for undergraduates; and campus renovations, like those to Campbell Hall that are currently underway. 

One specific renovation that students’ room and board fees are funding, though, was a particular red flag among the trustees who voted against the resolution: $1.7 million from students’ housing and dining fees is earmarked for "seating replacements and accessibility updates to Breslin Center," the resolution said.

Trustee Dennis Denno said at the April 11 meeting he had "serious concerns" that housing and dining fees would support renovations to the basketball arena. Trustee Mike Balow said he would like to see funding for Breslin Center improvements come from a different department’s budget, rather than Residential and Hospitality Services.