Board Announces Task Force to Study ‘Gold Fridays’ After Mixed Survey Results

Board members discussed the Gold Fridays initiative after the president summarized two surveys and mixed qualitative feedback from students, faculty and staff.

President Kennedy said the university has completed two assessments of Gold Fridays and that response rates were modest (about 15% of students and 37% of combined staff and faculty in the most recent survey). He described positive findings—additional undergraduate applied-learning opportunities and time for faculty research—and negative feedback, including reduced on-campus activity on Fridays that may hurt athletic attendance and contracted food-service revenues.

Kennedy announced a cross-campus task force led by Interim Provost Dr Joel Hire to review Gold Fridays, solicit broader campus and community input and recommend next steps. He emphasized there will be no immediate policy change for the coming fall: "Nothing will happen this fall," Kennedy told governors.

Governors and staff raised options such as varying the schedule, holding the initiative monthly, or aligning Gold Fridays with away games or specific campus events. The task force will include representatives from academic affairs, student affairs, enrollment management, athletics, staff associations, faculty senate and student government.

The board framed the review as a measured approach to balance student learning, staff workloads, athletics and community partners while considering financial and scheduling implications.