This fall, Director of Financial Aid Dave Cecil announced his retirement. Cecil’s last day was this Friday, Oct. 29. Some people knew that Cecil was planning on retiring toward the end of this year due to him being employed at Transy for nearly 20 years, but many were taken by surprise by his plan to retire first semester. His son, Keith Cecil, provided the full story.

Keith Cecil, Dave’s son as well as an assistant director of athletics at Transy, said that his wife recently got a job in Indiana. This was an opportunity that their family could not pass up and prompted their  decision to move. Due to this, Cecil would be away from his grandkids, and thus decided to take an early retirement in order to be a full time grandpa.

“Family is an important thing, and there comes a time when you have to make an important choice and family is his choice,” said Keith Cecil.

In order to help celebrate the 20 years that Cecil has dedicated to Transy, three employees that work with him on a day to day basis spoke about his positive influence.  Words like loyal, caring, loving, and dedicated, were all used to describe him. His colleagues made it clear that Cecil  had created a loving and inviting environment within the Financial Aid office.

Jennifer Priest said, “He was a good confidence booster. This was one of the ways he helped me the most throughout my transition to Transylvania.”

Some of this confidence boosting came from the passion that Cecil has for his employees and making sure that they receive professional development. Beth Mitchell said that Cecil would always put his workers before him. This was evident throughout the years when Cecil passed up the opportunities to attend state and national conferences so Mitchell could attend.

“I’m in a beginner position and he has allowed me to cultivate my professional career by going to these conferences while he stays back in the office to cover things. Normally it would be him going to these conferences and me staying behind,” said Mitchell.

Cecil not only allowed the ladies of the office to go to conferences before him to help with their professional development, but also so they could be better equipped to help the students at Transy.

One of Cecil’s biggest impacts at Transy was helping students in every possible way. This extended inside and outside the office. Within the office Cecil has helped hundreds of students be able to attend this university by working with them in order to find a way in which they would be able to afford the school. Outside of the office, Keith Cecil said that he would attend all the student events, from the basketball games to choir performances.

Mayme Clayton has had a unique experience because she has had interactions with Cecil both as a student and as her boss. She described how much of a supportive figure he was. When Clayton was a student at  Transy, she played on the tennis team and Cecil would come to all of her matches. As a professional, Clayton said that he has been very supportive on getting everyone involved in both the state and national financial aid organizations.

Cecil’s passion for helping students afford college has been a driving factor for him these last 20 years.

“His favorite thing about being in financial aid was helping the students,” said Keith Cecil. “When you can do that and believe in Transy, that’s a beautiful thing.”

When former students began to hear about Cecil’s retirement, staff members say that they have been coming to the office, writing him letters, and calling him to thank him for his service. Each of the people on his staff made it very apparent that Dave would do anything in his power to help a student when they needed it. Clay said, “He cares about students more than anyone I think I’ve ever met.”

In order to also have an understanding of Dave’s work accomplishments  Priest offered a short bio of his professional career within the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA).

“At the state level, Dave served Kentucky as president in 2010-2011, and was presented with KASFAA (Kentucky Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) highest honor, the Herb Vescio Distinguished Service Award, in 2005.  Regionally, he served as president of SASFAA in 1994-1995, and was SASFAA Treasurer for four years.  In 1998, Cecil received the SASFAA Distinguished Service Award.  He was honored with the NASFAA (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) Leadership Award in 2006.  Throughout his career, he has been an active member on many committees at the national, regional and state levels.”

Overall Cecil has provided a tremendous impact during his time as Director of Financial Aid for Transylvania University. He has provided both students, faculty, and staff with countless and cherished memories. Keith Cecil said, “He would get too riled up at basketball games shouting at the refs to let them know they weren’t playing fair.” While other memories include him teaching Mitchell about horse racing, always participating in the Halloween costume themes, and even falling out of his chair once after being flustered by a particular unsatisfying phone call, these memories that both his son, and those he worked with him remember fondly.

Every single person in the financial aid office both employee and student would consider Dave family. Their admiration and respect for him goes well beyond him just being the best boss they have ever had.

Dave Cecil is a titan of Transy who has done so much for the university. Clayton had the perfect words to say to sum up his legacy:

“One thing that I have struggled with in my role here as well as being a student is that I don’t know Transylvania University without Dave Cecil. What makes Transy special is the people and Dave Cecil is definitely one of those people for me. Dave Cecil is Transy and Transy is Dave Cecil.”

On Oct. 20, the Kentucky Supreme Court invalidated Louisville’s recent minimum wage increase with a 6-1 vote, which also invalidated Lexington’s minimum wage increase that aimed to gradually raise the city’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by July 1, 2018. Lexington’s minimum wage will be reduced to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 that was made effective in 2009, but Transylvania students with Federal Work Study jobs will continue to receive $8.20 an hour.

“Lexington and Louisville have a different status than the other cities in the state,” said Political Science Professor Dr. Don Dugi. For example, Lexington is considered a merged government, and Louisville has the status of a Class One city. Because of this, the two cities have what Dugi defined as home rule, or “the ability to determine rules and regulations, ordinances for itself.” Because of the powers granted by home rule, Lexington and Louisville local governments assumed that they had the authority to make decisions regarding increases in their minimum wage

Most minimum wage jobs are only part-time jobs, allowing employers to have labor without having to supply benefits.

“Ordinarily, people have to pay rent, they have to pay for food, [and] they have to pay for transportation. But for people who are working less than full-time jobs, they have to add a fourth major component, and that’s insurance. And you could add a fifth to that, too, if they try to provide for their retirement,” said Dugi.

Without benefits, minimum wage workers are often forced to obtain multiple part-time jobs to pay for necessities. Due to having no benefits, they work day to day, knowing that they are only one illness away from being on the streets. Transy students do not necessarily have the worry of ending up without a roof over their heads, but countless students enrolled at Transylvania, along with students at other colleges, must work multiple jobs in order to pay for tuition and other necessities of everyday life.  

As a solution, Dugi suggested some form of standardization. “The easiest way to deal with the minimum wage problem is to have the national government establish a wage.” Standardization would restrict variability that exists between states and, in Kentucky’s case, cities, as well.

Dugi pointed out that the issue is federalism. “Having fifty different sets of rules about salaries, about education, about all these different things — it makes for a very disjointed society.”

The justice who had the dissenting opinion in the vote concerning the minimum wage in Lexington emphasized that the state constitution suggests the national minimum wage be just that- a minimum amount of money that employers must pay their employees, while still allowing for employees to be paid greater amounts depending on more localized circumstances.  

“If people make more money… it provides a tremendous stimulus to the economy because they’re going to be spending that money,” said Dugi, demonstrating benefits of a higher minimum wage.

Dugi notes the short-term disadvantages of a minimum wage increase, such as high cost for employers. “But that can be offset by increased sells and things like that,” says Dugi.

While minimum wage is worth considering for economic improvement, there is also a question about the number of available jobs.

“The jobs that used to exist in industry have been largely outsourced… Corporations are now multinational corporations, and they move about the world to wherever they think they have the best tax advantage, the cheapest labor.” Due to globalization, Dugi said, “We don’t have a lot of options for people who are minimum wage employees.” The jobs that do exist for minimum wage earners are mainly in the service industry.

Dugi considered the Supreme Court decision as part of a larger picture, having to do with inequality in the US. “It bothers me that we keep a fairly high level of working poor in this country because if people are going to have a full life it means being able to participate in all aspects of life, including things like politics. If you’re worried about where your next meal’s coming from, you’re not going to be particularly concerned about what’s going on in the world or what’s going on in your community other than putting food on the table. That seems to me to diminish human life rather dramatically.”

While employers have the option to reverse their employees’ pay rates, Transylvania students under the Work Study program are fortunate in that they can continue to receive higher wages for less work. According to recently-retired Assistant Director of Financial Aid Dave Cecil, “President Carey has decided that the hourly pay rate for Federal Work Study students will remain at $8.20.” The fact that many Transylvania students must work off-campus jobs, often earning minimum wage along with on-campus Work Study jobs, shows the inability for such low wages in order to be sustainable. Students at Transy already have an advantage in that they are accumulating career opportunities. However, this is not a reality for many individuals, who will spend their lives in minimum wage jobs positions.

(Above: The mold caused by a leak found under junior Joseph Gearon’s sink in Rosenthal, which was quickly cleaned by Physical Plant.)

Mold problems are not uncommon in central Kentucky. Homes, businesses and universities deal with this issue, and Transylvania is no exception. Since school has begun, there have been multiple reports of mold entering students’ rooms in Rosenthal, Dalton-Voigt and Forrer residence halls.

As for Rosenthal, the situation is much more subjective to the individual room. There was a case this summer where a faucet had been leaking, and it caused a collection of mold under the kitchen sink. This could affect the health of those who live in the residence halls and will require the aid of a mold inspection service to clear up – see this service here.

Junior Joseph Gearon said, “Physical Plant came three times that day and responded very quickly to my maintenance request. They were very polite and handled the problem very quickly. My room is now mold-free.”

As far as Dalton-Voigt goes, the problem occurred with the heating of the building. Dean Michael Covert said that the building’s temperature was not being controlled properly in the vacant rooms at the end of July. He referred to these as “operational problems,” due to not regulating the temperature that would have lowered the humidity.

“Multiple students were given dehumidifiers in their rooms, as well as Physical Plant looking at better temperature control. These were short-term solutions while we have been looking at more regulated measures for both Dalton-Voigt and the two new buildings for long-term solutions,” said Covert.

He stressed that if any isolated problems continue to occur, then students should contact Physical Plant. However, residence life has received scattered reports of incidents within Forrer, so Physical Plant has taken a deeper investigation. One first-year, Katherine Lewellen, moved off campus because the mold in her Forrer room was causing allergic reactions.

“After living in the dorm for a week it became extremely hard for me to breathe, especially at night,” Lewellen said in an email. “I would sometimes wake up at 2 a.m. in the morning unable to breathe and have to drive home to sleep…My symptoms persisted even after they cleaned my room.”

Lewellen was granted a room change after providing physician’s documentation of her mold allergy, but said, “unfortunately I was still not able to sleep there or spend any extended amount of time in the room.”

“After making an effort for two months to live in the dorm I made the decision to move back home,” she said.

Covert said that they inspected the roof and plumbing system for leaks, but found none. Naturally, checking the roof was one of the first things that was done. When buildings normally have mold problems, it’s usually caused by a leak in the roof. This is why it’s so important that roofing companies like Division Kangaroof (visit website here) are called out if people ever notice mold in their homes. It could be a sign that the roof needs some maintenance work. However, in this case, there seemed to be no roof problems at all. The roof was well maintained and didn’t seem to be the cause of the mold. When looking at the shower exhaust systems, they found two that needed to be replaced, as well as one that needed to be cleaned. Additionally, they found that about half of the dryer ducts within Forrer were not blowing air out of the building. This problem was fixed and a booster fan was applied in order to help ensure that the air leaves the building.

Transylvania Residence Life is addressing this potential problem and taking proactive measures to make sure that the building is safe. Covert said that student safety is their number one priority. One of these proactive steps was hiring Airsource to come in and take air samples of Forrer Hall during fall break. The results have not yet been received, but they are expected to come back to normal. However, if they come back problematic, then the university will take swift and ample measures to make sure the building is properly cleaned.

Additionally, a university official said that all reported incidents have been taken care of, and that “we just spot-checked over 100 rooms and didn’t find anything.” Overall, any mold problems that may have been created over the summer should now be taken care of and handled. If not, Residence Life urges students to contact them or someone from Physical Plant, so that they can take care of the problem. The Rambler will release another article on this issue when the AirSource results come back.