Westminster College

“The executive committee shall be invested with all the powers of authority of the board of trustees when the board is not in session except as may otherwise be provided in these bylaws, provided that the executive committee shall have no authority to rescind or cancel any resolution theretofore adopted by the board of trustees relating to the membership, powers or duties of the executive committee or to amend the articles of incorporation. The executive committee did not exercise this authority during the fiscal year.”

“The westminster financial management team reviews the form 990 and seeks input regarding the same from the president. The college's trustees are provided with access to a secure website where they are able to review a draft of the college's tax return for the year ended june 30, 2020. The college's trustees are invited to participate in a teleconference with members of the college's administration who are responsible for preparing the college's tax return. During the teleconference, the college's financial administrators review the draft of the tax return. Website access to a complete copy of the form 990 is provided to the trustees prior to the filing of the return with the internal revenue service.”

“The college has a formal conflict of interest policy. Every trustee and officer along with employees who meet the criteria as defined: employee: an employee of the college who has authority to expend college funds or to incur contractual liability on behalf of the college is required to annually (1) review the college's conflict of interest policy, (2) disclose to the best of his/her knowledge any business, personal, family and not-for-profit relationships that could reasonably give rise to a conflict of interest, (3) summarize in writing any potential conflict of interest as may already exist, and (4) acknowledge by signature on a disclosure form that he or she acted in accordance with the letter and spirit of the policy. The employee disclosure forms are submitted to the college's director of human resources and the disclosure forms for trustees, officers and key employees are submitted to the chair of the college's finance, audit and compliance committee. The chair of the board of trustees and the chair of the finance, audit and compliance committee are responsible for determining whether or not certain relationships give rise to conflicts of interest. The chair of the finance, audit and compliance committee delivers a conflict of interest report to the executive committee of the board of trustees annually.”

“A specially appointed committee of the board of trustees, who was empowered by the board of trustees to negotiate an employment contract with the president, determined the compensation for the president of the college. The members of the special compensation committee were independent, none were compensated by the college, nor does a compensation arrangement exist between the college, family members of the compensation committee or any business in which any of their family members have an interest when the president's employment agreement with westminster college was approved on october 22, 2018. The committee reviewed the compensation paid to the presidents of 20 colleges to which westminster regularly compares itself with respect to tuition and fees, endowment returns and other metrics. Based on this data, the committee was satisfied that the compensation offered to dr. Richardson reflected the fair market value for the services to be rendered to the college. The president's employment contract expires on june 30, 2024. The president's base salary shall be subject to annual reviews by the governance committee or its designee, and may be increased with the approval of the executive committee. The college determines the compensation for its key employees based on the compensation reported on form 990 for the college's peer institutions. The college has identified 20 peer institutions that have characteristics such as enrollment, endowment, student body, etc. That are similar to the college's characteristics. In addition, the college also uses a compensation survey of higher education institutions which provides a broader basis to help assess the reasonableness of the compensation of the college's key employees.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are made available upon request. In addition, the college's financial statements may be viewed on the electronic municipal market access website at http://emma.msrb.org/.”

“The following members serve on the westminster board of trustees as associate trustees but have no voting rights: sarah arblaster, helen boylan, jackson gastmeyer, makayla guntrum, megan parker, sherri pataki, and peter smith. The following members serve on the westminster board of trustees as trustees emeriti but have no voting rights: george berlin, robert bruce, leonard carroll, james dewar, robert gardner, george greer, carolyn jones, robert patton, thomas mansell, william rankin, richard white, martha wile”

“Additional information related to program service accomplishments: the college has made efforts to identify, manage and mitigate the programmatic and economic disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic. In accordance with the governor of pennsylvania's orders, the college ceased on-campus operations in march 2020 for the duration of the spring 2020 semester which ended in may 2020. Likewise, the college did not host in-person camps, conferences or special events in summer 2020. The college was able to continue its educational programs in a fully on-line format for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester. While the duration and impact of the covid-19 pandemic are unknown, the college is prepared to conduct its program services in an on-line format, if necessary. The college resumed on campus operations and in-person classes for the fall 2020 semester; however, it is possible that the pandemic will worsen and that the college will have to shift to a fully on-line format.”

“Changes in unrecognized pension benefit plan costs -2,122,500.”

“The college's finance, audit and compliance committee assumes the responsiblity for oversight of the audit and of its financial statements and its selection of the independent auditors. This process has not changed from the prior year.”