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.

It’s been nearly three years since Western’s Board of Regents voted to begin the transition to Football Bowl Subdivision play, but the three remaining members from that group retain the same message — be patient.

“It’s a work in progress,” Chairman Jim Meyer said. “As far as our progress goes, I’ve always said it’s going to take us at least five years from now, or at least last year, to be able to compete and win on a consistent basis and get our program where we want it to be.”

This season marks the Hilltoppers’ first as a full-fledged FBS member, and only three regents remain from the nine who voted in 2006.

Those regents — Meyer, Yevette Haskins and Larry Zielke — all acknowledge the pressure for results to be shown on and off the field.

However, each is adamant that the process can’t be rushed.

“This isn’t going to be done in a day, and we’re going to have to take some bumps and some hits,” Vice Chairwoman Haskins said. “We’re not going to come into this area of athletics winning all our games. It will take a while for us to get where we want to go.”

The Board of Regents first approved the transition to FBS on Nov. 2, 2006, by a vote of 7-2.

The dissenters were former Regent Forrest Roberts and former Faculty Regent Robert Dietle.

Dietle, an associate history professor, was about 10 minutes into an argument against the transition before being interrupted by Zielke, who called for an immediate vote.

Dietle said in an e-mail on Wednesday that he still feels the move was a financial mistake by President Gary Ransdell and the university.

“As we have already seen, the cost of our football program continues to increase regardless of how well it performs — and regardless of the financial pressures felt by the rest of the university,” Dietle said in the e-mail. “Moving to (FBS) football is the most foolish decision Dr. Ransdell has made since he has come to WKU. Let me add that even if we were winning all our games, my opinion would be the same.”

Zielke said he feels the transition will eventually pay dividends by placing Western in the national spotlight.

“I look at the state of Kentucky as having a ‘duopoly,’” Zielke said. “That is, where the University of Louisville and (the University of Kentucky) were the only teams in play for conference championships, bowl games and things of that nature. I thought it was important for Western, if it’s going to be a national player, to get into this arena.”

Meyer said he knows that Western accepted a large undertaking with the FBS transition, but he feels confident that the move will prove to be a smart one in the long run.

“All of these things certainly cost money, and some felt that it took away from money that could be spent elsewhere,” he said. “But my feeling was that if we went to the top level of athletics, it would help the university by raising the bar overall.”

Western alumna Kat Wilson remembers Colonial Courts as a community where students felt connected enough to knock on each other’s doors to ask for milk or eggs, a community where students bonded simply because they were neighbors.

Providing international and visiting faculty with more housing close to campus is causing this student community of apartments and cottages to dwindle.

Colonial Courts, located on Normal Drive across the street from Southwest Hall, is a group of six cottages and three apartment buildings where many Western students have lived.

Western has been buying up the properties in Colonial Courts for two years. Now only two apartment buildings have student residents living there, according to information collected by Deborah Wilkins, chief of staff and general counsel.

The university now owns all of the properties in Colonial Courts after the Board of Regents approved the purchase of the last four cottages on July 31.

Residents have fond memories of Colonial Courts.

“It wasn’t the place; it was the people living there,” said Wilson, who lived in Colonial Courts from 2005 to 2007.

Wilson said she remembers residents hanging out together on their porches and having bonfires outside.

“There was always something going on there,” she said.

Somerset senior Emily Fox, who lives in a Colonial Courts apartment, also remembers hanging out with other residents.

“We would have airsoft gunfights,” Fox said.

There are fewer interactions now that only one other building besides hers has student residents, she said.

Bryan Anselm, a senior from Carmel, Ind., who lives with Fox, agreed.

“It’s quieter, but it’s not the same,” he said.

The four cottages will be renovated starting in September and will house international and visiting scholars, Provost Barbara Burch said.

Two cottages purchased previously by the university are already being used for visiting faculty after undergoing renovation last year, according to information provided by Wilkins.

Burch said it’s important for international faculty to live close to campus so they won’t need transportation back and forth all the time.

Burch said Western faculty are treated to convenient housing when they travel to universities abroad.

“It’s important for us to reciprocate when we have visiting faculty,” she said.

Bowling Green senior Drew Bewley, who lives in a Colonial Courts apartment, said it’s somewhat frustrating that some students had to leave Colonial Courts for Western to house faculty.

“If they needed it for a new building, that’s understandable, but to move one group out just to move another group in doesn’t seem right,” Bewley said.

Many of the houses previously intended for international faculty were lost when construction began on the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences building, according to the Board of Regents motion.

The two apartments that still house students are leased until May, Anselm said. After that, he and Fox are graduating and don’t plan to live in Colonial Courts anymore.

Western plans to renovate or raze the apartment buildings in the future in an effort to continue building an international community in that location, according to information provided by Wilkins.