With only 11 days left until University of Arizona President Robert Robbins must present a plan for how to deal with a severe financial crisis, faculty members grilled the executive leader on why they have been left out of the budget process.
One professor at Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting went so far as to say Robbins is violating state laws and the Arizona Board of Regents should reject any proposal that lacks their input.
“It has become apparent that the president does not intend to engage shared governance in the formulation or review of the Dec. 15 report,” said Leila Hudson, a chairperson on the senate and associate professor of Middle Eastern & North African Studies, during the meeting. UA’s Faculty Senate is a group of leaders that includes representatives from each college and others, such as students, who help govern the university.
The faculty’s criticism of Robbins follows his promise at a Nov. 16 board of regents meeting to include them in plans for budget cuts as staff members and students then decried a “failure of leadership” and “financial mismanagement.”
“I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of our shared governance partners — faculty, staff and students — who have been working with us over the last three weeks, seemingly every day all day, to address a plan going forward that is due to you on Dec. 15,” Robbins said at the regents’ meeting.
Now, many faculty members say Robbins has fallen short of his responsibilities with the clock ticking on a proposed fix.
UA is one of Southern Arizona’s biggest employers and home to nearly 55,000 students.
Addressing the university’s financial crisis at the senate’s regular monthly meeting, Robbins responded that he is now asking the faculty to participate in creating a proposal for cuts and fiscal measures to address the shortfall in cash on-hand funds.
The board of regents sets the standard for how much money Arizona universities must maintain in their cash reserves and it has ordered Robbins and Chief Financial Officer Lisa Rulney to present a plan to restore reserves to the board by Dec. 15.
“We invite you to come and join us and anybody else who wants to come in and help us because we’re gonna need everybody to help us try and go forward with a plan,” Robbins told the crowd at Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
“I find it really interesting that we are coming into senate (meetings) 10 days out from a report that we’re supposed to be giving to ABOR and, President Robbins, you show up and you have no plan,” Katharine Zeiders, faculty senate member and professor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, said to Robbins.
Other faculty members expressed frustration at not previously having the opportunity to contribute or approve the plan before it reaches the regents. Part of the Faculty Senate members’ duties is to play a role “in the strategic and financial planning process, and in developing policies and procedures relative to the general operations of the University,” according to the UA’s website.
Theodore Downing, a senate member and research professor of social development, argued that state law dictates that “the faculty members of each university, through their elected faculty representatives, shall participate in the governance of their respective universities and shall actively participate in the development of university policy.”
Downing also is a former state legislator. He presented a motion at the meeting urging “ABOR not to approve any plan that was not prepared in compliance with State Law.” Hudson seconded the motion, which ultimately did not pass.
After Hudson’s comments, Robbins announced that he’s inviting the UA’s General Faculty Financial Recalibration Committee — led by Gary Rhoades — and any interested faculty members to join in the planning. But for many in attendance, that invitation was too little, too late. Rhoades is the director of the Educational Leadership and Policy Program at the University of Arizona, and a member of the United Campus Workers of Arizona.
“President Robbins, you said you wanted Gary’s committee to help you solve this problem and anyone else? You’ve got less than two weeks. How is this going to happen?” Lucy Ziurys, faculty senate member and professor in the department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, asked Robbins. “Because I hear bits and pieces but I don’t really see a plan and we don’t have much time.”
Robbins said the university is currently overspending by approximately $45 million a year and $20 million of that is due to the UA’s athletics department. He added that the athletics department has received $87 million in loans since 2019. Almost all faculty members who spoke at the meeting asked Robbins how the university is going to address the department’s drain on funds.
“I will continue to say that athletics is the most vexing problem for me to come up with a plan,” Robbins said. He added that the department is already working on tightening its budget.
“Athletics, they are cutting, they are firing people, they are laying off people. 100% they are laying off people,” Robbins said.
He said the department plans to raise ticket prices for games.
“In order to increase revenue, for all of you that buy season tickets in basketball, football it’s going to cost you 25% more,” he said.
A flawed system of expenditures
Rhoades presented a report from the faculty’s financial recalibration committee at Monday’s senate meeting. The seven-page document highlighted factors that contributed to the university’s financial straits, including athletics, as well as recommendations for the university’s financial plans.
The committee revealed that bookkeeping related to the University of Arizona Global Campus, an online platform, largely contributed to the school’s cash on-hand shortage.
“About ten of the thirty or forty ‘days of cash on hand’ deviation from ABOR’s guidelines comes from the integration of UAGC’s operating expenses into our accounts starting on July 1, 2023,” wrote Hudson in a Dec. 2 email to university stakeholders.
The university purchased its so-called global campus for $1 while it was still Ashford University — a for-profit college that was actively losing money and under fire from federal officials for deceptive recruiting tactics. The university’s own school of economics argued against the purchase, citing low graduation rates, high levels of student debt, decreasing enrollment and targeting of vulnerable populations like low-income students and veterans.
At Monday’s meeting, Robbins and Rhoades agreed that merit-based aid and tuition assistance for out-of-state students were major contributors to the university’s overspending and need to be cut.
Merit-based aid has cost the university over $100 million in the past five years, according to the faculty’s financial recalibration committee’s report.
Gov. Katie Hobbs in recent criticism of the board of regents has called for more information about how UA leadership allowed a financial crisis with little notice for state workers and students.
“I’m certainly concerned about this coming to light now and the potential lack of oversight by ABOR,” Hobbs said at an event in November, according to reports by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services. “It’s something that we’re looking into. This is a problem, and it certainly should have come to light sooner.”
The governor warned against UA leadership placing the burden of financial problems on students. “I think it’s important that we make college as accessible as possible for Arizonans,” she said. “I don’t think (cutting) financial aid should be the answer.”
Following those comments, Robbins said in a Nov. 22 email to university stakeholders that he had spoken with Hobbs and wanted to assure the community that there would be no reductions to need-based financial aid and any potential changes to merit-based financial aid will not affect current or accepted students.
Faculty members continue to feel they’re paying for mistakes they had no part in making. Rhoades explained during the meeting that many departments that had actually made money now face losing funds because of the school’s flawed system of expenditures.
“What we have is a system that puts academic units in a position to generate more revenue but getting less allocations,” Rhoades said.
No final plan
Notice of the financial crisis stems from recent comments from university executives to the board of regents that shocked the campus community.
In November, Rulney, UA’s chief financial officer, announced an alarming shortage in the university’s cash reserves, sparking outrage among faculty, staff, students, and many in the Southern Arizona community.
The current fiscal year is nearly a quarter billion dollars short of projections. Officials at the meeting Monday said that has left the UA with only 97 days of cash on hand, versus the 156 days that had been projected and far from the regents’ requirement of at least 140 days cash on hand.
In the Nov. 22 email to university stakeholders, Robbins had moved to allay fears.
He said the university is not planning on furloughs or retirement cuts. However, he stressed that: “No decisions about any budget cuts or related issues have been made at this point.”
University faculty and students have called for an audit of the university’s finances and repercussions for those responsible.
Responding to widespread calls for accountability, including his resignation or firing, Robbins had promised greater oversight.
“We continue to review the specifics that led to this point and to evaluate what changes need to be made to our processes throughout our organization to ensure financial responsibility,” he said in the Nov. 22 email.
In a Nov. 15 Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee meeting, university officials, including Rulney and Robbins, signaled possible strategies to restore cash reserves.
Ideas then for a fix included selling land, restructuring debt, pausing Fiscal Year 2025 salary increases, revising merit-based aid and ending tuition guarantees, according to the meeting agenda provided to Arizona Luminaria.
Still, throughout Monday’s meeting, Robbins made it clear he has no finalized plan, yet he expects faculty input will be instrumental in completing the report due to the regents in less than two weeks.
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