By JoANN NIEBEL

In December I commented on the recent decision at SUNY Fredonia to address the current deficit by eliminating 13 major programs currently offered at the University.

At the time I was critical of the timing of the announcement and how it impacted the morale of the student body ,as well as all the employees. Since that time there have been several followup articles on the front page of the OBSERVER, which I found troubling.

However, the latest front page news articles renewed my concerns. The article “Big deficit, small cuts at SUNY Fredonia “ informs the campus and community of the dire fiscal situation we are facing, noting that examples of some cost savings and income were “basically a drop in the bucket.” One thing missing was the effect of the removal of 13 major programs announced in December.

At a campus-wide meeting, President Stephen Kolison identified — by name — 13 programs to be eliminated. Then in a followup article on Dec. 27, we find that there is a four-month long process so that “each program set for the chopping block can create and submit proposals to save themselves.”

This will be followed by four months of meetings, including reviews by the Provost Council, the University’s senate Committee, Planning and Budget … all to discuss identified program cuts! My question is, why wasn’t all this done before the December announcement? If all these issues were not addressed before then how did they come up with the Programs to be cut?

Was it a case of throwing names in a hat and picking the lucky 13. Certainly the justification should have been developed before the announcement!

The process makes headlines but the truth is no money is attached to a “major” and no money is saved by eliminating them.

The savings would only come from eliminating budgeting to that program — faculty, support staff, technical support, etc. But not one word has been said about those efforts — for example, will there be layoffs? Administration made no effort to consult and include those affected by their announcement. Instead there was a total lack of transparency. It certainly leaves everyone with a very bad taste.

After being on the College Council for 26 years I have never been more concerned about the future of the campus than at this time.

The articles regarding the college give little information about what is really going on — and the community is unaware of the fiscal crisis.

However in the “Big deficit, small cuts at SUNY,” there was a true gem! In the last paragraph, Michael Kelly, campus VP for finance and administration sums up the article, indicating the mentioned “savings” won’t solve Fredonia’s biggest financial problem and that SUNY Fredonia’s biggest financial problem is that “it needs more tuition-paying students” and he goes on to say that ” Our general operations resources are largely driven by tuition.”

And there you have it! The answer! And it can be summed up in three words: RECRUITMENT, ENROLLMENT and RETENTION!

The annual tuition at Fredonia is $23,960. This is the goal!

After an agreed upon enrollment number with the state is met, additional enrollment tuition dollars stay with the university. These additional dollars go a long way on the campus. If this administration is serious about the campus future, there should be a dedicated, all encompassing recruitment effort.

In the spring of 2023 to deal with the effects of the pandemic, an open enrollment was offered by the state. Students were allowed to apply to multiple schools without a fee. The provost reported we received 5,000-plus applications. We accepted more than 4,000 and we ended up with 790 actually enrolled.

The usual excuses of everyone looking at the same group of candidates and the dwindling pool are voiced – but colleges like Brockport, who went all in on recruitment efforts, accepted 2,000 new students — the largest class since 1976! (Rochesterfirst.com) So it can be done. But the focus must be campus wide and orientations and campus visits must be improved.

Administration must be involved and it must be a priority. As a member of the College Council, I have been “scolded” about bringing up the past, but since I am no longer on the Council I will say that I truly respected President Dennis Hefner and the impact he made. I was always encouraged because at every meeting he emphasized the importance of Recruitment, Enrollment and Retention!

He was enthusiastic and driven and as an economist very aware of the financial impact of tuition dollars. He was always true BLUE and he directed a period of tremendous growth at Fredonia. There is no reason this cannot be repeated.

RECRUITMENT ENROLLMENT RETENTION — this should be the major effort by this administration, Campus wide and community driven. Time wasted on efforts that will bring little to no measurable improvement should become secondary. SUNY Fredonia means so much to the campus community and impacts the surrounding communities in multiple ways! We are definitely on the precipice — we cannot fall into the abyss!

In conclusion, as a Council member I voiced my concerns many times that this administration does not prioritize these issues. Not having an admission director for 18 months certainly had an effect on recruitment efforts.

It was gratifying to see that a new Vice President for Enrollment Services has been appointed effective Jan. 29. She has an impressive resume and is also an Alumna of SUNY Fredonia which means she will be comfortable in her new role. But she also has a tall mountain to climb! We can only hope that she gets the support she will need.

On a personal note, my concern for the campus was my motivation for this article. I truly love this campus. My husband and I both graduated from Fredonia as did our daughter. All of our children took advantage of the 3-1-3 Program. I was an adjunct for 18 years and I proudly served as a College Council member for 26 years. This University is so important to all of our lives. We must do all we can to save it.

JoAnn Niebel is a former College Council member and Sheridan resident.