This week’s announcement from Governor Dannel Malloy will draw the attention of faculty, staff and students alike, but it might be something that we are rushing in to too quickly.
In his initial breach on the subject, the governor expressed his plans to give the Connecticut State University System an overhaul. Hoping to capitalize on the dismal state economy, Malloy is trying to chop lines off of the budget. By combining the boards of the state university system and the state’s community colleges, millions of dollars could be saved over time. The 12 boards, as they currently stand, spend more than $394 million annually.
One board of regents would distribute that money democratically or through a process so that no schools are left out – hopefully. The problem with such an overhaul is that consolidation could lead to the dilution of our university and college’s campus cultures. Issues present here at CCSU, for example, might not match up with those of Naugatuck Valley Community College. A single board might favor the larger schools, or worse, punish them for having their way for so long.
Our campus shouldn’t be subjected to a shrunken budget because another school in the system needs the same money we do. There could certainly be a tendency to balance things across the board, which will take away from addressing the urgent needs of our respective campuses.
In Malloy’s press conference, he mentioned that it takes too long to graduate from our state schools. This is entirely true and it’s about time someone with credibility mentions it. Faculty and staff should be thanking Malloy for admitting that the system needs work, but making it easier to transfer between schools and sharing a budget might actually fight that progress. For a student to get out of CCSU on time, expansion needs to happen with professors, campus space and course selections, allowing students to be able to take their necessary credits sooner.
Funding should be rewarded on the timeliness and quality of the student body’s education. It’s not going to be easy to gauge levels of education between universities and colleges, but the board will need to fill that need. They come to find it a nearly impossible task to make decisions on several levels, when each school is so very different.
The most upsetting issue at play here is the general feeling of neglect that the CSUS gets in comparison to the University of Connecticut. Students can likely walk in and out of UConn in four years without a problem. At CCSU that schedule hardly exists, save for a low percentage of extremely hard-working and fortunate students. While UConn is undoubtedly a larger and more prominent national school than CCSU, ECSU, WCSU and SCSU, the students at all five of these schools should be taken into the same consideration at the state level.
If Malloy’s intention is to bring Connecticut’s education levels to an all-time high, then he should be pushing for excellence across the board. Create the new budget with the students at the CSUS schools in mind. With the same attention and funding, the state might have several great universities worth bragging about. Until then, we’re alright with our great education at a lower cost.