I heard this story on WEMU news the other day, titled on their web site “Budget On Track; Enrollment Up at EMU” (this link will open an mp3). Ostensibly, it’s about how the enrollment numbers are up quite a bit, about how the 0/0/0% campaign is working, and how things are looking good in there. But President Martin also lays gently spells out some administration positions on faculty and P/T contract negotiations: we would like to give out pay raises, depending on enrollment increases.
I guess that means that since enrollments are going to be way up (the story says that the current estimate is that we’re on track for a 5% increase and EMU is running a surplus right now) that there ought to be not insignificant pay raises. Of course, the problem here (besides the fact that what Martin says on the radio does not automatically square with what is going on at the negotiation table) is that enrollments are for a year at a time while contracts go on for 3-5 years. In other words, EMU might be able to raise enrollment for Fall 2010 by 5%, but no one knows what will happen for Fall 2011 and beyond.
Still, I like that she’s at least mentioning keeping health care costs stable, modest pay increases, mutually beneficial gains, etc.
I have worked at EMU for a very long time and I really like what I see and hear from President Martin. IMHO the overall administration here at EMU has never been better, led by Dr. Martin and CFO John Lumm. Cudos to them for a job well done in these tough times.
Hey, EMU Lifer,
I am an EMU lifer myself. Is John Lumm, the chief financial officer, really EMU’s #2 in command as your comment implies? Isn’t this an educational university, and doesn’t the organizational chart of the university state the the Provost is the #2 in command? I greatly admire and support Dr. Martin — but give her credit, will you, she put an academic in the #2 job, Provost, not the new to higher education, learning on the job, John Lumm. He is a good and honest man, but as he barely knows what a curriculum is, it is very good he’s not the #2 leader at EMU.
Or is he?
Gipper…I wasn’t trying to imply that Lumm is #2 in command, but rather that President Martin has empowered him as the CFO to have much more input for all things financial, which is a far cry from previous administrators in his position. Most, if not all of them were basically powerless and were merely puppets who danced to the tune of their president.
EMULifer,
I respectfully disagree. Fallon’s boy Steven Holda was VERY powerful, and lazy and ignorant as well. His predecessor was too, but I forget his name….the one who moved to Oakland U, I think it was. All the VPs of Finance at EMU were more powerful than the Provosts have been at EMU, and that’s a shame, a root cause of our long history of wasting resources and not capitalizing on opportunities. John Lumm is honest; but he’s still getting on the job training about what a university is, yet his office still has more power than the Division of Academic Affairs, and that makes us all worry.
As the adviser to the Eastern Echo, I’m sometimes asked why it is we need a free press and professional journalists. There are many reasons I cite, and sometimes examples just jump out at you. While the posters on this site don’t claim to be journalists, it seems to me that the least they could do as members of an academic community is provide some facts to back up claims like, so-and-so was “lazy and ignorant.” Signing one’s real name would also perhaps promote more civil dialog.
Kevin,
As an EMU sponsored journalist-educator, don’t you know of instances in which EMU staff and faculty were punished for stating their frank opinions, and even for revealing things that qualify as whistle blowing? There are lots of reasons EMU community members may wish to remain anonymous, principled reasons.
As for Mr Holda – he was lazy and ignorant. My opinion based on first hand observation and the record of his leadership. He made choices, and gave orders to the provost’s office that limited university growth. For example: He ordered fully enrolled classes to be cancelled, on the grounds that the instructional line budget was being overspent — and he couldn’t be persuaded to look at the facts, which show that fully enrolled classes produce more revenue than they cost to run. Another example: He created new university budgets based on rolling over the last year’s numbers, without even determining what had been spent in various categories! Ignorant and lazy, indeed. Professionally incompetent as well, it has been argued!
The man lacked both the background and experience required for the job he rose to, as well as the inquisitive nature that might had allowed him to learn enough on the job to do it half way well. Tragically, the EMU finance division’s staff lacked qualified technocrats with backbone to stand up to him and tell him the truth….Much has improved since then, thankfully.
So, Steve Holda, where ever he may be now, is surely responsible for some of the mindless mismanagement EMU suffered in the first 8 years of this century. That the ECHO has never done a serious examination of EMU budget making is a serious flaw in that otherwise fine newspaper.
Thanks Gipper — Covering budgets is one of the toughest assignments for student journalists. Each year, we get a few who hammer away at some aspects of the budget, but it has been a number of years since we’ve had a comprehensive budget story. Perhaps this is the year. I do my best to persuade.