Published: September 26, 2008 10:23 pm         

Daniels: Money is tight for colleges

Guv tells school leaders not to expect what they asked for, ISU’s Bradley says

TERRE HAUTE — Gov. Mitch Daniels has told the presidents of Indiana’s public colleges and universities to have realistic expectations as far as state funding increases for the next biennial budget.

Indiana State University president Dan Bradley was among the university presidents who met informally with Daniels last week.

The governor told the university leaders that state revenues are expected to increase only 1 or 2 percent for next year, Bradley reported during an ISU trustee meeting Friday.

Meanwhile, overall higher education budget requests for the next biennium far exceed that level and are in the double digits, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office said later.

“[The governor] told [the presidents] they probably should not expect to get what they asked for,” Bradley said.

ISU’s budget request called for a low, single-digit increase, he said. ISU followed state guidelines and did not include inflationary increases.

“Our request is more modest,” said Brian Hasler, ISU executive assistant to the president for external relations. “We’re trying to be realistic and cooperative with the state in terms of making reasonable requests.”

Jane Jankowski, the governor’s press secretary, said the governor was asking the college and university presidents to have realistic expectations. “Don’t expect a lot of new spending,” she said.

The economy is slowing, and revenue growth will reflect that. The next state revenue forecast is in December, she said.

After the meeting, Bradley said that colleges and universities in some states are looking at funding decreases. “I think there’s still hope of getting a modest increase [in Indiana],” he said. “The state budget seems to be holding up pretty well, but it’s a long time until July 1,” the start of the next fiscal year.

In other matters, the president reported that the university will soon be hiring firms to develop both a strategic plan and a facility/land use plan.

ISU issued a request for proposals and is now studying proposals submitted by various firms.

Bradley also reported that next month, he hopes to have a detailed proposal on plans for Sandison Hall “so we can move forward with doing what we need to do as far as financing and getting construction started.”

He wants to move forward to renovate and reopen the now unused residence hall and bring it to more modern standards for student housing.

Renovating Sandison would provide for enrollment growth and give the university flexibility to accommodate students as other residence halls are renovated or replaced. Several residence halls, in particular, the high-rise freshmen facilities, must be modernized or replaced to meet the expectations of today’s students, Bradley has said.

In other matters, trustees approved two administrative re-organizations and elimination of two positions — the executive assistant to the president for strategic planning and institutional research/effectiveness and an associate vice president for academic affairs position.

The board approved a reorganization of the office of diversity/affirmative action so that each has its own chief officer and each reports to the office of the president. Bradley wants to strengthen the prominence of both functions at ISU.

The board also approved reorganization of positions in academic affairs. With the elimination of one associate vice president for academic affairs position, the responsibilities of that office have been reallocated to other administrators who report directly to the provost.

Other functions in academic affairs have been reorganized as well. In some cases, offices will now report to deans rather than directly to the provost.

The board approved the merger of the departments of chemistry and physics, and it approved a one-day extension of winter recess this year to include Friday, Jan. 2, 2009. The one-day extension was requested because of “the likelihood of extensive use of vacation days and the resulting uncertainty of staffing levels,” according to information provided to trustees.

Winter recess generally concludes on Jan. 1, with the university reopening each Jan. 2.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.