NDUS Budget Cuts (changed name to be system-wide)

[SWSiouxMN]

When July 1 comes, here is what Kennedy will be dealing with

Schafer was brought in to clean Kelley's messes.  He has done so.  If the wanted a caretaker interim the State Board would have just stuck UND with DiLorenzo. 

If DiLorenzo had to deal with the budget and logo.... ugh

[talksalot83]

I wouldn't exactly call it a "blank slate." With low oil prices, everyone may be forced to do more cutting. Kennedy may just have to remove a portion of the slate for the next biennium, too. Make no mistake, this was about restructuring and the way he wanted things done because that's the kind of person Schafer is. The same with the logo and a couple more things that I'm not going to really go into here. I know that the SBoHE knew who they were hiring.

I've been in the NDUS system as a student, student employee and a full-time benefited employee in the timespan of about 11 years now. I've watched a lot of things happen and some turmoil. I haven't seen anything like this. I've followed the SBoHE a lot, especially as a student since I was actively involved in NDSA and student government. I can't even begin to understand what the end game is with some of their decision making. But then again, I'm beginning to believe that I'm on the wrong end of the political thought for this state and system.

I'm still waiting for someone to ask why Alice Brekke still gets to keep her job. She's been in finance and ops at UND for many, many years. She oversaw all of it. She should have known about the deficit (even if she couldn't predict the state-wide budget cuts). UND didn't budget for a drop in enrollment which is about 1,000 fewer than a few years around when UND topped out at around 15,500. 

[crb1]

6 hours ago, talksalot83 said:

I wouldn't exactly call it a "blank slate." With low oil prices, everyone may be forced to do more cutting. Kennedy may just have to remove a portion of the slate for the next biennium, too. Make no mistake, this was about restructuring and the way he wanted things done because that's the kind of person Schafer is. The same with the logo and a couple more things that I'm not going to really go into here. I know that the SBoHE knew who they were hiring.

I've been in the NDUS system as a student, student employee and a full-time benefited employee in the timespan of about 11 years now. I've watched a lot of things happen and some turmoil. I haven't seen anything like this. I've followed the SBoHE a lot, especially as a student since I was actively involved in NDSA and student government. I can't even begin to understand what the end game is with some of their decision making. But then again, I'm beginning to believe that I'm on the wrong end of the political thought for this state and system.

I'm still waiting for someone to ask why Alice Brekke still gets to keep her job. She's been in finance and ops at UND for many, many years. She oversaw all of it. She should have known about the deficit (even if she couldn't predict the state-wide budget cuts). UND didn't budget for a drop in enrollment which is about 1,000 fewer than a few years around when UND topped out at around 15,500. 

I am a long time UND employee and you hit the nail on the head with Alice Brekke. A lot of people are wondering how she still has a job. 

[homer]

8 hours ago, Cratter said:

Brescani is the only one whos contract has to wait. 

They will see if he improves his skills and they'll decide in November. 

7-1 was the vote. 

......and not surprising this is UNDs (not Notre Dame) fault

I thought you were joking and than I read b'ville and read McFeeley.  When something good happens at FU it's great leadership, when something negative happens at FU it's UNDs fault.  It's comical.  

[The Sicatoka]

A 7-1 vote when the ND SBoHE has such a notable Fargo/Cass County/NDSU slant is somewhat stunning. 

I'd say someone was just given six months notice. 

[UND1983]

Trying to figure out McFeely's angle with constantly supporting Brescani.  He has wrote several articles in the past month, all supporting him.  The Forum got some angle on this deal?

[Nodak78]

https://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/dean-bresciani-4/

 

I would imagine Dean Bresciani wishes he would addressed the budget process differently.  Things are catching up to his arrogance.

[NoDakFan]

Lol @ Bisonville with their blaming of UND. Isn't the SBoHE filled with people from Fargo anyways? And honestly, I could probably think of better ways the SBoHE could "pull NDSU back to UND's level" than not rehiring their president. 

[UND1983]

From Rob Port: 

Speaking of research, Neset said Bresciani’s lack of “teamwork and collaboration” with UND on research initiatives was a third area of concern.

“By working together we lift both institutions to a higher level. We are not in competition with one another. We are on the same team,” Neset said. “There have been instances cited where there was not a sense of unity and collaboration to the point where NDSU was not working with UND to elevate North Dakota.”

When asked for specifics Neset said she would “defer to the research personnel at UND for that” but added that there “were instances cited by them” and “times that NDSU research department was not working in lockstep with UND on issues that should have been collaborative.”

It's UND's fault.

[ndlifer]

5 hours ago, crb1 said:

I am a long time UND employee and you hit the nail on the head with Alice Brekke. A lot of people are wondering how she still has a job. 

In your experience trying to budget for a medium sized research institution, how easy would it be to not only manage the current year's budget, but have to plan the next biennium when the ND OMB office is consistently off of their revenue forecasts by tens of millions of dollars. Not only do you have to cut the dollars you already have been approved for the current year, but then you have to estimate your cut for the next biennium. Tuition revenue is only a piece of the puzzle, if state agencies cannot trust the OMB to give even somewhat reliable forecasts, there is no way any agency can accurately estimate their appropriation allocation and plan accordingly.

[talksalot83]

1 hour ago, ndlifer said:

In your experience trying to budget for a medium sized research institution, how easy would it be to not only manage the current year's budget, but have to plan the next biennium when the ND OMB office is consistently off of their revenue forecasts by tens of millions of dollars. Not only do you have to cut the dollars you already have been approved for the current year, but then you have to estimate your cut for the next biennium. Tuition revenue is only a piece of the puzzle, if state agencies cannot trust the OMB to give even somewhat reliable forecasts, there is no way any agency can accurately estimate their appropriation allocation and plan accordingly.

It's a fair point that if a forecast is unreliable, it would make it hard to budget and the biennium system doesn't help. If Kelley gets a lot of guff for being asleep at the wheel, Brekke saw all the finances and has done so for years. I'm not trying to be a jerk here. Enrollment declining over the past few years should have probably been a bigger discussion than UND trying to create a committee/task force for it now. That's $7.9 million (if all those students are ND residents) when UND was living larger and spending money to accommodate for its rise in enrollment between 2005 and 2012. And then enrollment started sliding; maybe because of higher admission standards, maybe not.

Before I left UND last month, there was a lot of talk about how the incoming numbers weren't going to be as good as they wanted them to be.

[GeauxSioux]

7 hours ago, homer said:

I thought you were joking and than I read b'ville and read McFeeley.  When something good happens at FU it's great leadership, when something negative happens at FU it's UNDs fault.  It's comical.  

I'm sure that it's the same crowd that attended the "Keep Joe Chapman" pep rallies back in the day, only to find out later that he ran NDSU financially into the ground.

[homer]

41 minutes ago, GeauxSioux said:

I'm sure that it's the same crowd that attended the "Keep Joe Chapman" pep rallies back in the day, only to find out later that he ran NDSU financially into the ground.

They were fine with that though.  They will tell you they are better off today. 

[NoDakFan]

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/4065556-riedy-let-go-unds-vice-provost-and-chief-strategy-officer

Another one out of Twamley bites the dust. 

[UNDBIZ]

44 minutes ago, NoDakFan said:

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/4065556-riedy-let-go-unds-vice-provost-and-chief-strategy-officer

Another one out of Twamley bites the dust. 

"Without cause." Oh, there was a reason. 

[Teeder11]

2 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

"Without cause." Oh, there was a reason. 

Yes, indeed, there was. 

[Bison Dan]

I always thought that the budget UND has was light for all the sports UND provided.  Now we know they did have a blank check to the taxpayers money. 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/op-ed-columns/4066032-jim-whitehead-light-and-law-smoke-and-mirrors-und

 

[UND1983]

1 hour ago, Bison Dan said:

I always thought that the budget UND has was light for all the sports UND provided.  Now we know they did have a blank check to the taxpayers money. 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/op-ed-columns/4066032-jim-whitehead-light-and-law-smoke-and-mirrors-und

 

Simple Dan!  Was starting to worry about you, long time no deep comment.

[UNDvince97-01]

3 hours ago, Bison Dan said:

I always thought that the budget UND has was light for all the sports UND provided.  Now we know they did have a blank check to the taxpayers money. 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/op-ed-columns/4066032-jim-whitehead-light-and-law-smoke-and-mirrors-und

 

Once I saw "Jim Whitehead" in the article, my interest level and expectations went through the floor (Similar to when I see "bison dan").

Just another elitist grad school professor who knows all and better than everyone else and has ZERO understanding on how athletics positively affect the university in a myriad of ways.  He either ignores those tangible and intangible variables completely or is simply misinformed. 

Either way, he stills knows best.  And if you don't have a graduate degree or dare I say, an unpublished thesis , your life is over and you are a waste to society.  He and his elitist colleageus have no time for imbeciles. 

He is entitled to his opinion. However, even though he is smarter than everyone else, he is misinformed and/or ignorant regarding college athletics.

 

[geaux_sioux]

11 minutes ago, UNDvince97-01 said:

Once I saw "Jim Whitehead" in the article, my interest level and expectations went through the floor (Similar to when I see "bison dan").

Just another elitist grad school professor who knows all and better than everyone else and has ZERO understanding on how athletics positively affect the university in a myriad of ways.  He either ignores those tangible and intangible variables completely or is simply misinformed. 

Either way, he stills knows best.  And if you don't have a graduate degree or dare I say, an unpublished thesis , your life is over and you are a waste to society.  He and his elitist colleageus have no time for imbeciles. 

He is entitled to his opinion. However, even though he is smarter than everyone else, he is misinformed and/or ignorant regarding college athletics.

 

He did use some $1000 grad school words in there. 

[Milford torgerson]

3 hours ago, UNDvince97-01 said:

Once I saw "Jim Whitehead" in the article, my interest level and expectations went through the floor (Similar to when I see "bison dan").

Just another elitist grad school professor who knows all and better than everyone else and has ZERO understanding on how athletics positively affect the university in a myriad of ways.  He either ignores those tangible and intangible variables completely or is simply misinformed. 

Either way, he stills knows best.  And if you don't have a graduate degree or dare I say, an unpublished thesis , your life is over and you are a waste to society.  He and his elitist colleageus have no time for imbeciles. 

He is entitled to his opinion. However, even though he is smarter than everyone else, he is misinformed and/or ignorant regarding college athletics.

 

Can someone here check the numbers from his link.  I always thought that hockey is a revenue sport.  Those numbers can't be correct

[The Sicatoka]

Quote

In my view, the Schafer interim presidency has taken some needed steps, but it did so in a way that left the issue of "lack of openness, transparency and trust" simmering, trashed the notion of shared governance and enshrined the "sacred cow" status of athletics.

His real beef come through in bold. The inmates think they deserve to run the asylum, and they did under Kelley. 

Schafer did what needed to be done and even Whitehead begrudgingly admits that. 

But the sacred cow that is athletics is at ALL American universities. Nothing unique at UND there. 

[The Sicatoka]

13 hours ago, UND1983 said:

Simple Dan!  Was starting to worry about you, long time no deep comment.

He just awoke from the shock at the admission by Bresciani that Chapman left NDSU at the verge of fiscal collapse. 

[The Sicatoka]

10 hours ago, Bison Dan said:

I always thought that the budget UND has was light for all the sports UND provided.  Now we know they did have a blank check to the taxpayers money. 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/op-ed-columns/4066032-jim-whitehead-light-and-law-smoke-and-mirrors-und

 

Oh Daniel, all athletic departments (save for the top 20 or so of FBS) are heavily subsidized (be it by students, or taxpayers). I'm not saying it's right, but just reminding you that every athletics department is a glass house. (Here's a mirror. Use it.)

[UNDBIZ]

2 hours ago, Milford torgerson said:

Can someone here check the numbers from his link.  I always thought that hockey is a revenue sport.  Those numbers can't be correct

He didn't count champions club donations as revenue for the men's hockey and football teams (the primary 2 sports with champions club donations revenue associated with ticket sales). The way the athletic department accounts for those "donations" they don't allocate the money to any particular sport.