The University of Connecticut board of trustees met on Wednesday, Oct. 29, with members addressing issues with funding at the Avery Point campus.
The vice-chair for buildings, grounds and environment, Marilda Gandara, said the regional campus suffers from low enrollment partly because it is the only campus without student housing.
In June, the board of trustees voted to postpone a vote on appropriating $3 million towards housing at Avery Point until a full strategic plan is made for the campus, according to Connecticut Mirror.
The interim vice president for finance, Reka Wrynn, gave an update on the Storrs and regional campuses budget for the first quarter of the fiscal year during the financial affairs committee report. Wrynn said that revenues were up over $42 million with continued strength in UConn Foundation and research grant revenues.
UConn’s expenses slightly decreased in the salary and benefits category due to additional scrutiny the school is placing on hiring and payroll, according to Wrynn. The budget presentation said the deficit improved from $37.9 to $12 million.
Not all questions about UConn’s handling of finances were addressed in this presentation. After the report, board member Thomas Ritter questioned the $20 million in finances that he said Anne D’Alleva, the previous UConn provost, dedicated to the next phase of Avery Point.
“My question is if somebody could explain to me where the $20 million dollars was in the budget, what was the original purpose of it and what was the $20 million dollars spent in the last month?” Ritter asked.
Ritter said that D’Avella had a previous conversation with him about having $20 million in discretionary funds with $2.25 million of the fund being planned for Avery Point. Wrynn didn’t initially understand the funds Ritter was referring to, with her guessing he was talking about the annual provost commitments budget.
Board member Andy Bessette said he was also confused about what money Ritter was referring to and suggested ending the discussion.
“If we could, could we just table that and take it offline from this meeting? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Bessette said.
Ritter declined the request and asked Pamir Alpay, the interim provost, to answer his question.
“Once we started looking into the budgets of the units that report the academic affairs, we saw that they’re predicting some shortages,” Alpay said. “There was a rescission that our office had to take which is around $7 million dollars which wiped out any additional dollars that we had in the provost office.”
After some back and forth, the interim vice president for finance was able to figure out that Ritter was referencing the bond money through UConn 2000, which is used for faculty startup equipment.
“I know that the bucket of funding is set aside for provost startup for new faculty,”
said Wrynn. “At leadership discretion, it can be utilized for capital activities. She added that to her knowledge the money hasn’t been spent, but was unsure if the entire $20 million was still there.”
Bessette clarified that his intention in taking the discussion away was to make sure that Ritter could get a thorough answer because he was still unsure of the funding dilemma.
The commissioner for the Department of Economic & Community Development, Daniel O’Keefe, confirmed in the meeting that the strategic plan would be discussed before any major capital projects.
“It’s not just about regional campuses,” O’Keefe said. “It’s about the financial forward projections of the University and incorporating that into our decision about regional campuses,” O’Keefe said.
He added that his focus is on the plans to address any structural losses before taking on new commitments.
Radenka Maric, the president of UConn, said that not all financial projects will be ready for the next board of trustees meeting on Nov. 19, which will focus on regional campuses because of a National Scientific Foundation site visit for large grants on Dec. 4 and 5.
O’Keefe said he won’t be prepared to consider investment in regional campuses until they incorporate the impact on UConn’s long-term financials.
After O’Keefe spoke on the issue, Ritter clarified how the administration could address these issues going forward.
“It would be extremely helpful if the administration could talk with one voice… because it’s not,” Ritter said.
After sharing complaints about the administrative handling of regional campus funds, O’Keefe and Ritter stepped out into the hallway together for a private conversation.
Gandara, the vice-chair of the buildings, grounds and environment committee, did not prepare a traditional report for the committee’s section of the agenda. Instead, Gandara took the time to address issues at Avery Point again.
“Unless we’re willing to spend a few million dollars and make a multi-year commitment [the Avery Point] campus is just not going to survive,” Gandara said. “I think that there has been a lot of frustration on the part of those of us who have been trying to get Avery Point completed in the changing messaging.”
She added that further delays could kill the whole program because without housing students face challenges to participate. Gandara said the area is too expensive because of competition from General Dynamics Electric Boat.
The next board of trustees meeting will address topics involving regional campuses further. The reserved date is currently Nov. 19, in the North Reading Room of Wilbur Cross. The time has yet to be disclosed, according to the board of trustees website.