Wesleyan University

“Form 990 review process the university's fiscal year end is june 30. The audited financial statements are finalized in late october due to the time it takes to value endowment assets. During november and december, a tax committee consisting of university general counsel, vp for finance and administration, and director of financial services meet to discuss any significant changes in policies, governance, management and other activity. In addition, the finance office reaches out to other departments such as academic affairs, university relations, and admissions to determine potential filing activity. During january and february the finance office works with the external auditors to complete a draft document for the annual audit committee meeting. The document is provided to each member of the audit committee and discussed during the meeting. The chair of the audit committee will summarize the review to the full board of trustees the following day. The final return is filed in may with a copy of the final return made available through the trustee secure portal a couple of weeks prior to the final filing to each voting member of the governing board.”

“Conflict of interest policy the university posts its conflict of interest policy on its website and requires questionnaire completion from university faculty, staff and trustees on an annual basis. Faculty and staff are collected electronically through network sign on. Conflict of interest questionnaires from board members are collected by the secretary of the university and reviewed by legal counsel. Responses are monitored by the university general counsel in conjunction with the president's office. Any supervisor receiving notice of a potential conflict of interest shall determine whether the situation presents a potential conflict of interest under this policy and document their determination in writing. Unless the supervisor is able to clearly determine that no such conflict exists or in the case that the individual disagrees with the supervisor's decisions, the supervisor shall require the individual to disclose the situation in writing and the supervisor and/or individual shall forward that description to an appropriate vice president or senior officer of the university. The supervisor shall not permit any individual to participate in the questionable activity unless and until a vice president or senior officer of the university has reviewed the activity and confirmed in writing that the activity may continue and/or that there are relevant safeguards in place to protect the university. Any individual who disagrees with a conflict-related decision of any vice president or senior officer may seek review by the president of the university whose decision shall be final. On an annual basis the university distributes and requires individuals to complete a statement a) confirming that they have read and understood the conflict of interest policy and b) that they have no knowledge of any conflict of interest except for those appropriately disclosed under the policy.”

“Compensation policy wesleyan university's salary administration is designed to accomplish three major objectives: - attract and retain highly qualified staff members; - link compensation to performance; and - promote consistency and an internally equitable relationship between salary and responsibility a compensation committee of the board of trustees, composed of three members and chaired by the chair of the board of trustees, is responsible for evaluating the compensation reasonableness for all officers and key employees as determined from time to time. The committee reviews the performance appraisal of the president by the board, determines the compensation of the president, and sets goals and performance measures for the following year. The committee begins discussion in the second half of the academic year. Wesleyan participates in an annual survey of its peers conducted by a private consultant. This process ensures that the university remains consistent with the regulatory and legal requirements of compensation in a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The process for determining the compensation of the president meets the three requirements of the rebuttable presumption standard. The compensation arrangment is approved in advance by the organization's compensation committee. The committee is appointed by the board of trustees for the purpose of assisting the board to fulfill its responsibility to the organization and the community to ensure the compensation is in accordance with the organization's policies. Prior to making any compensation decisions, the executive compensation committee obtains and relies upon appropriate data as to comparability. The committee utilizes local and national compensation surveys to set compensation levels. Finally, the executive compensation committee adequately and timely documents the basis for setting compensation concurrently with the making of the determination.”

“Public disclosure the university posts its governing documents on its website at www.wesleyan.edu/generalcounsel. In addition, the university's audited financial statements are on its website at www.wesleyan.edu/finance. The university's form 990 is posted on www.guidestar.org. The form 990, audited financial statements and governing documents are available upon request.”

“Organization's mission i. Wesleyan university is dedicated to providing an education in the liberal arts that is characterized by boldness, rigor, and practical idealism. At wesleyan, distinguished scholar-teachers work closely with students, taking advantage of fluidity among disciplines to explore the world with a variety of tools. The university seeks to build a diverse, energetic community of students, faculty, and staff who think critically and creatively and who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit. Ii. Values and culture *as a learning community* wesleyan educates students to become independent thinkers capable of continuing to learn and able to translate intellectual rigor into real-world action. At wesleyan, students are driven to make knowledge more available and more meaningful, to push insights across borders into new domains, and to engage with new or neglected audiences. They discover what they love to do and get better at it while constantly being challenged to make what they learn relevant to others. Wesleyan creates an environment in which students can strive for excellence through hard work that is joyful and satisfying. Alumni of the institution continue to draw on their learning experiences for the rest of their lives and remain devoted to the institution. *as a center for creative practice* wesleyan attracts faculty and students who find enormous value in independent research, scholarship, and creative practice. Professors embrace their role as scholars-teachers and are energized by their students deep inquisitiveness, unguarded curiosity, and eagerness to explore beyond the syllabus. The university's small graduate programs in the sciences and music facilitate collaborative research. Undergraduates are given opportunities for advanced independent work through which they increase their intellectual capacities and discover aspects of themselves and the world that will remain meaningful to them long after graduation. Members of the wesleyan community address scholarly issues of importance to their respective fields and regularly produce work that goes beyond academic realms to have a positive impact on public life. *as an institutional citizen and leader in education* wesleyan inspires faculty, staff and students to play active roles as neighbors and citizens. The university contributes economically and culturally to middletown, and it instills in its graduates a sense of civic possibility and purpose. Wesleyan alumni create opportunities to integrate service into their professional and personal lives and generously support the educational enterprise on campus. The university supports the continued evolution of a liberal arts education and makes a case for its importance in the public sphere. Members of the wesleyan community regularly go on to distinguished careers in public service, and the university provides support for disseminating scholarship that can have positive public impact.”

“Instruction and research includes all expenditures for compensation and other expenses in support of instructional activity. - 763 bachelor of arts and 78 graduate degrees were awarded in 2019. - today wesleyan offers instruction in 45 major academic departments and 14 interdisciplinary programs that cross disciplines and, in some cases, divisions. The master of arts degree and the doctor of philosophy are regularly awarded in six fields of study. Students may choose from more than 1,000 courses each year and may be counted upon to devise, with the faculty, some 800 individual tutorials and lessons. - the student body is made up of approximately 3,000 students full-time undergraduates and 130 graduate students, as well as around 100 part-time students per year in the graduate liberal studies program. An ongoing faculty of more than 400 is joined each semester by a distinguished group of visiting artists and professors. Today's student/instructor ratio is 8 to 1, and about two thirds of all courses enroll fewer than 20 students.”

“Auxiliary services include the costs of room and board for approximately 3,000 students residing on a 315 acre campus. There are 8 residence halls, 7 apartment complexes and over 25 program houses in addition to over 140 house units on campus for upper-class students. Working in partnership with students and collaboratively with other members of the wesleyan community, the office of residential life strives to provide a safe and supportive residential environment that complements and extends students educational experience. Student-centered programs and services are developed and implemented with an emphasis on holistic individual and community development, student leadership, individual responsibility, advocacy of academic inquiry, and freedom of thought, opinion and expression in the spirit of mutual respect. These are the hallmarks of the wesleyan residential experience, and they provide the essential foundation for a quality liberal arts education within a diverse and dynamic community.”

“Library expenses include acquisition of books, periodicals and other materials, compensation of staff, and other expenditures in support of the library. The mission of the library is to provide the information services and resources required to support the learning, teaching, and research of the wesleyan community. To carry out this mission the library will: - organize and provide intellectual and physical access to collections and information resources locally and world-wide - develop and preserve local collections - teach and guide users in the library research process - provide an atmosphere conducive to study, research, and learning - contributing to the larger scholarly world the wesleyan library will provide unexcelled services. It is a dynamic place where library staff provide users with the information they need, as well as a keen sense that there are many paths, and a wide range of skills necessary for the effective use and evaluation of information resources.”

“Student services includes the costs associated with administering the office of admissions, registrar, financial aid, career planning, health services, institutional research and dean's office.”

“During 2019, the University retrospectively adopted the provisions of Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-14, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958): Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities. ASU No. 2016-14 reduces the number of net asset categories from three to two: net assets without donor restrictions, previously reported as unrestricted net assets, and net assets with donor restrictions, previously reported as temporarily restricted net assets and permanently restricted net assets. The ASU also requires that underwater endowment funds previously reported as reductions to unrestricted net assets be reported instead as reductions to net assets with donor restrictions. Accordingly, the University has reclassified $349,000 of underwater funds as of July 1, 2018 as reductions to net assets with donor restrictions. In alignment with its financial statement reporting, the University is reported only two categories of net assets on Part X. Its net assets without donor restrictions are reported on Line 27 and its net assets with donor restrictions are reported on Line 29. The beginning of year net asset amounts in column (A) have been modified from the presentation on the prior year 990 to reflect the Universitys adoption of ASU No. 2016-14 and the reclassification of $349,000 of underwater funds as described above.”

“Change in value of split interest agreements (961,000) postretirement benefit obligation changes 4,043,000 ------------- total 3,082,000”