Formal discussions of raises for two of Western’s administrators have been pushed back.

The Board of Regents voted on Friday to postpone proposed raises for Athletics Director Wood Selig and Dean Kahler, associate vice president of Enrollment Management.

The raises — about $34,000 for Selig and about $19,000 for Kahler — will be discussed again at the next board meeting on Jan. 26 and 27 in Frankfort.

A little before 9 a.m. on Friday, a small group of protestors gathered in the lobby of Mass Media and Technology Hall, carrying neon-colored signs and chanting to voice their concerns about the proposed raises.

Among them was Fabian Alvarez, an English instructor who presented a petition with about 260 faculty and staff signatures to Faculty Regent Patricia Minter to give to the board.

Alvarez said in an e-mail that he isn’t sure what will change between now and January.

“My hope is that things will change, and on the surface, there appears to be some movement,” he said. “Whether or not that is lip service is yet to be seen.”

Selig declined to comment on the board’s decision, and Kahler couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.

Alvarez said in the e-mail that, while the protests went well, they weren’t what ultimately made the difference.

“It was the culmination … overall though, it seems to me that faith has been restored on several levels regarding the relationship among faculty, staff, students and administration,” he said in the e-mail.

Regents were originally going to vote on a revamped contract for Selig near the end of the meeting, which included a longer list of incentives for good performances by Western’s athletic teams and an increased base pay of $175,000.

At the start of the meeting, Chairman Jim Meyer suggested postponing any more discussion of Selig’s raise until the board’s January meeting.

That would give regents time to address concerns that faculty, students and staff have, Meyer said at the meeting.

The board approved Meyer’s suggestion.

Kahler’s raise was included in a list of more than 200 other personnel actions.

Minter asked the board to treat Kahler’s raise as a separate item from the rest of the list so regents could address specific issues she and others had with it.

The board went into a nearly hour-long closed session to discuss Kahler’s raise and decided to bring up the issue again at the January meeting.

Minter said she applauded the decision to postpone discussion of the raises because it showed the board’s willingness to hear faculty, staff and student viewpoints.

Student Regent Kevin Smiley also said he thinks the regents made a good decision.

Many students are concerned about the raises, he said.

Smiley said he can’t predict what will happen between now and January, but he thinks there will be ongoing discussions about the raises between now and then.

“We’ll see how those go,” he said.