Haynie forms committee to assess SU, higher education amid budget deficit
Chancellor Mike Haynie announced plans for a committee to assess the purpose of SU and higher education overall Tuesday. The 12-person committee of professors will work to recommend changes that reflect student needs, particularly while SU faces an operating budget deficit. Avery Magee | Development Editor
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Syracuse University Chancellor Mike Haynie announced the formation of a new committee designed to address SU’s low enrollment and budget issues, including an anticipated 1.5% operating deficit, according to a Tuesday release.
“I’m asking this committee to conduct an honest, rigorous and forward-looking examination of questions that are intentionally large and situated within the broader context of the current higher education environment,” Haynie wrote in the release.
The committee, co-chaired by Whitman School of Management professor Amber Anand and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs professor Jennifer Karas Montez, will focus on “four interconnected domains of academic and institutional life,” according to the release. The domains are institutional identity, financial model and sustainability, strategic investments and priorities as well as academic structure, scale and excellence.
The committee will submit a written report to Haynie by Nov. 15 answering two “foundational” questions: “What is now — and what can be in the future — the purpose and distinctive contribution of Syracuse University for the students who enroll here, and more broadly in American higher education?” and “What must change — and what must be preserved — for this institution to fully deliver on our promise to our students and their families, and to our faculty, staff, alumni and community?”
Additional members of the committee include:
- Lori Brown, distinguished professor, School of Architecture
- Nina Iacono Brown, associate professor, Newhouse School of Public Communications
- Heather Coleman, chair, associate professor, College of Arts and Sciences
- Kyle Dailey, associate vice president, Student Involvement and Engagement, Division of Student Experience
- Alex Deyhim, professor of practice in entrepreneurial leadership, College of Engineering and Computer Science
- Eleanor Holdridge, professor and chair, College of Visual and Performing Arts
- Nina Kohn, Board of Advisors Professor of Law, College of Law
- Jing Lei, professor, associate dean for academic affairs, School of Education
- Brice Nordquist, professor and dean’s professor of community engagement, College of Arts and Sciences
- Patrick Walsh, professor, chair and graduate director, Falk College of Sport
In a campus-wide email sent on June 11, Haynie announced that SU’s enrollment shortfall will have financial consequences, including a budget deficit. In addition to the committee, the university has attempted to offset this deficit by increasing tuition by nearly 4% and offering an early action application option.
“The work ahead is significant, and I am genuinely excited about what it will produce,” Haynie said in the release.
