St. Augustine’s University Interim President Everett Ward said his priority “was to bring the university to financial stability.”
St. Augustine’s University is regrouping after a particularly difficult academic year. Some of the challenges the small historically Black university faced included a $3 million drop in net tuition revenue, the firing of its previous president and a federal investigation of allegations that the university provided false information on a federal grant proposal.
Just 100 days into his new job, Interim President Everett Ward announced a series of tough but proactive steps the university is taking to get back on the road to recovery, last Monday.
In an interview with Diverse, Ward harkened back to the three objectives he committed to on April 23, when he was hired.
“The first [objective] was to bring the university to financial stability, the second was to strengthen the faith in the administration with faculty, staff, students and alumni, [and] also to strengthen and enhance our relationship with external stakeholders,” he said.
Among other measures, the university eliminated 43 positions; instituted two weeklong furloughs, one in July and one for this December; placed a hiring freeze on adjunct professors for the 2014-15 school year; closed campus facilities; and moved some staff from a 12-month to 10-month schedule.
Ward said that faculty reactions to the furloughs and cuts were mixed. “Are we having some growing pains and adjustment pains? I think so. Because any time you look at faculty and staff reductions, and possible class mergers and closures, they’re always some underlying issues. But we are working with the faculty,” he said.
St. Augustine’s faculty will regain a measure of power — the Faculty Senate — that had been eliminated by a previous administration. Ward said that he reinstituted the Senate in his first two weeks of office. Now that school is in session, faculty will have the chance to choose their department representatives. “The faculty will meet in their respective colleges and departments and elect their representatives. During the month of October it should be functional with elected officers,” Ward said. “We are very pleased about that.”
