I recently received this from Darrell Downs, president of the Winona State University Faculty Association. You might remember him as the guy who said MnSCU’s Charting the Future plan smacked of overcentralization. Dear Governor Dayton: With the first Minnesota Miracle in 1971, Governor Wendell Anderson and the legislature hammered out a response to the inequitable Read more →
The University of Minnesota-Duluth will cut up to $1.1 million in programs and services this spring in an initial round of budget reductions to help close a deficit of about $9.4 million over five years. The proposed reductions (see full list below), which campus leaders discussed Monday, include cuts to the IT department, library staffing Read more →
University of Minnesota – Duluth officials say they’re preparing an initial round of budget cuts for the campus. They haven’t identified exactly where the $4 million in reductions will occur. But Chief Academic Officer Andrea Schokker said they could include the elimination of up to two low-enrollment degrees, the layoff of part-time faculty and the Read more →
Earlier this month, Minnesota State University – Moorhead President Edna Mora Szymanski told the Star Tribune that part of the campus’ enrollment decline — a factor in its $4.9 million budget deficit — was due to a tightening of admission standards: The harsh truth, Szymanski said, is that for many years, about 15 to 20 Read more →
Minnesota State University – Moorhead President Edna Mora Szymanski told the Star Tribune that some of its decline in enrollment was intentional: In 2010, Minnesota State University Moorhead decided it was admitting too many unqualified students, and it started referring “large numbers” to community and technical colleges, said Moorhead President Edna Szymanski. … The harsh Read more →
Northwest Technical College in Bemidji is expected to undergo a major restructuring next year. Declining enrollment has created a deficit of $300,000, or just over 3 percent of the school’s budget. President Richard Hanson wants to close that gap. But he has also called for a re-examination of the school’s educational mission, academic programs and Read more →
Minnesota State University – Moorhead officials are taking issue with a Slate article that says the campus, as well as University of the District of Columbia, are gutting academics to solve budget problems: Soon these regional public universities may have no departments of English, physics, or history—nor a host of other programs often associated with Read more →
I got a call today from Andrea Schokker, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, who gave me her take on this fall’s sweeping evaluation of campus services and academic programs at University of Minnesota – Duluth. She emphasized that the scrutiny on the Duluth campus will be unusually fair: “A lot of the prioritization efforts Read more →
You may recall the address made at the University of Minnesota’s budget forum earlier this month by a steward of the union representing the U’s clerical workers — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. (The U’s response is here. Further response is below.) Just before Friday’s Board of Regents meeting, the union Read more →
Yesterday’s public forum on the University of Minnesota‘s budget for next year brought out critics of all types, just as last year’s did. Much of what they brought up — concerns over issues such as cuts, financial aid, the cost of college and health-care premiums — is standard stuff but always worth noting. The address Read more →
Alex Friedrich