To graduate in four years, students at Western Kentucky University had to take an average of 16 credit hours a semester.

Not anymore. The Board of Regents voted Friday to reduce the number of credit hours needed for a baccalaureate degree from 128 to 120.

“This is a significant change but one we are determined we can make without any negative impact on the academic quality” of the degree programs, Provost Barbara Burch said.

The change, approved unanimously, will be effective in fall 2009 and will effect students graduating in December.

Burch said she appointed a committee to study the implications of the change, as well as an alteration to the associate’s degree program from 64 hours to 60. The group indicated that the universities of Louisville and Kentucky are already requiring 120 hours, while other universities in the state are either in the process of changing or are researching it as well.

Burch said the change will help reduce the time it takes students to graduate, which may in turn improve graduation rates.

While not all degree programs will be able to “squeeze” their credits into the 120-hour minimum, Burch said it is not a requirement and departments have the option to comply.

During the meeting, officials also learned that the “hard shutdown” of the entire campus last month exceeded the originally anticipated savings.

After realizing a $520,000 shortfall in the utility budget from increasing energy costs, the university shut down an extra week during its usual two-week winter break, turning off all possible electronics while reducing thermostats to 60 with a goal to save nearly $80,000.

The experiment, however, yielded a savings of $128,340 while reducing energy by 1,052,932 kilowatt hours in electricity and 1,112 metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions.

Originally, campus officials anticipated shutting down the campus again for a week in July to make a bigger dent in the remaining utility expenses. However, President Gary Ransdell announced that doors will be staying open due to the unanticipated high volume of functions and events scheduled that week - such as athletic camps - that will require guest accommodations in the residence halls.

Officials with Johnson Controls have been hired by the university to conduct an energy-improvement plan that will include a formal assessment of 44 buildings on campus, excluding the residence halls. The company, that made a presentation to the board Friday, will then make suggestions on equipment to be purchased so that it will eventually pay for itself with its energy savings.

John Osborne, vice president of campus services and facilities, assured the board that Johnson has contracted an agreement guaranteeing the savings officials said may be noticeable as early as next year.

The project, which will work directly with the university’s current sustainability committee, also will offer a student internship program.

Faculty Regent Patricia Minter said while she and other faculty members are excited about the university’s movement toward being “greener,” she asked that the company take into consideration the need for them to continue working throughout the project.

She said the closing plan for the sustainability project was “popped on us,” and that many faculty members felt degraded by the implication that they did not work during the winter break and would need the temperatures and resources to be available.

“We simply ask that you be mindful that this is a working campus that works 12 months a year,” she said. “Faculty don’t punch a clock ... please be mindful that we have work to do.”

Board members voted unanimously to approve the auditor’s report and financial statements for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008.

Chief Financial Officer Ann Mead said the audit did not identify any issues and indicated the university met all requirements and was in full compliance.

The board approved changes to this year’s operating budget that will allow the officials to apply the $2,139,000 in fall and spring tuition revenue to fund that growth in the Department of Academic Affairs for equipment, programs and professional development.

Ransdell later noted the university will learn how much the state intends to cut from its budget in the next few weeks following legislative sessions.

He emphasized that the revenue from the enrollment increase will not be used to offset budget cuts, but pointed out the possible effects it could have to faculty and staff.

Ransdell said a 1 percent budget reduction translates to a $800,000 cut from the university while a 1 percent tuition increase would provide $1 million. With a 1 percent increase to faculty and staff salaries costing $1.2 million, Ransdell said he will have to “bring these together and give (the board) a measure of the challenge.”

“You then begin to see how critical the difference is between a 2 percent and a 4 percent” budget decrease, Ransdell said. “... it may define our ability to do salary increases for faculty.”

On a positive note, Dean Kahler, associate vice president of academic affairs, reported that enrollment numbers for the current semester are higher than last year’s at this time.

Kahler said enrollment is up 716 students this year, while the applications for the fall semester are up 24 percent from last semester.

“People are going to extraordinary lengths to make students be successful and stay in school,” Burch said. “There were a number (of faculty) who made calls over the break asking why students were not enrolled for this semester ... a lot of people believe in the notion of one student at a time.”

The board also voted to approve the purchase of 270 acres of property adjacent to the current Green River Biological Preserve, with a grant from the Kentucky Land Heritage Conservation Fund Board. The grant will actually pay 100 percent of the $605,000 bill that will enable university officials to utilize it as a biological preserve. This is the second land purchase the board has provided to the university.

Officials heard updates on building projects across campus, including the early completion date of Snell Hall. The lab and classroom building, that features 83,000 square feet of classroom and laboratories, will be ready for classes in the fall, Osborne said.

During the meeting, University Police Chief Robert Deane gave a presentation on the advancements in surveillance technology being made available on the campuses. With the assistance of two federal grants, the department has been able to expand its communication office and install nearly 70 cameras on main and south campus locations since receiving the second installment of the grant in October.

“Is it going to solve every crime? No, it’s not,” Deane said. “But will it be a deterrent, yes.”

Deane said the department could use additional cameras to light up some of the “dead” areas on campus, but is in the process of finding additional funding.

With funding being a major topic of the nearly six-hour meeting, Mead also told the board that after a short delay in wake of the declining stock market, the university’s bonds that fund some construction projects will likely go on the market next week.