Financial Struggles in higher education

[vu72]

So we know there has been some concern revolving around financial issues at Valpo, and we also are aware of similar if not much worse issues at Southern Illinois.  Now comes word of serious issues at Wright State and an on-going strike by faculty.  Recall that Wright State's president is a Valpo grad.

Here is the story:

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/wright-state-cancels-some-classes-for-semester-faculty-strike-continues/k7zRnG0LIM6yc6FQhpXX2O/

This is indicative of a broad problem facing universities across the country as they face declining numbers, as well as more demands from faculty and prospective athletes and students in general.  Valpo is very wise in being proactive in this regard.

The troubles at Wright State continue to show that being a state school doesn't guarantee your viability.  They have 12,000 students and an endowment of only 84 million.

[vu84v2]

Wow!  I read this and some of the related articles. The administration trying to address the immediate issue of covering classes with adjuncts is not going to work. Accreditation in most (if not all disciplines) requires a certain percentage of tenured or tenure-track faculty. If they lose their overall accreditation or lose it in some fields (or even get put on probation), that will seriously hurt enrollment (especially in disciplines like engineering, accounting and health sciences). The administration is, more or less, at a disadvantage with many faculty since there is high demand in many fields and those faculty members could just find a job elsewhere (though that is more difficult with tenure, since other universities are less likely to want to pay and give that privilege to anyone who is not at the very top of their field). Liberal arts professors (somewhat ironically) are the ones who most need this settled.

My guess from reading the articles is that Wright State will take the striking faculty to court. Several recent rulings in these cases have directed the faculty to end strikes and go back to work.

I wonder how many faculty crossed the picket line. I know that I would.

One other note: I went to college with Wright State's president and had many classes with her. I have no way of assessing her career in academia, but she was very intelligent and hard-working then and likely is now.

[crusader05]

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/01/24/green-mountain-latest-small-college-close#.XEuCLT0lgRc.twitter

I posted this in another thread and it speaks to the struggle small liberal arts schools in particular are dealing with in the current and upcoming environment. Most schools I know of are scaling back enrollment goals and trying to figure out what sustainability looks like in this environment. I have heard that DePauw University is doing larger layoffs but haven't heard numbers. It's gonna be rough out there for a while.

[crusadermoe]

Holy bad timing, Batman!   

The Green New Deal from A.O.C. is imminent and highly popular among the young folk per the news stories!   Why the low enrollments in environmental issue classes?

But, always sad to hear of a closing.  It's also sad to see retail crash in small towns. If mom and dad have a grocery store next to a Wal-Mart, critical mass and market forces will simply take over.