By Tristan Weisenbach
Managing Editor
TCNJ Interim President Michael Bernstein announced in an email on Wednesday new initiatives that he hopes the College will implement in the coming years to reduce or eliminate expected budget deficits. These plans consist of cost-cutting measures and revenue generating opportunities.
Cost-cutting plans include maintaining faculty and staff vacancies, considering academic reorganization, and examining administrative and support functions. Bernstein’s recommendations are based on findings from a listening tour he conducted across campus earlier this semester.
Some of the revenue generation initiatives include creating a new School of Continuing, Extended and Professional Studies; three-year bachelor’s degree programs; community college partnerships; special programming; housing; enrollment incentives and monetizing under-utilized real estate.
The Signal has learned that Bernstein shared additional details about his plans during presentations at the Faculty Senate meeting, Staff Senate meeting and Academic Leaders meeting on Wednesday that were not included in his email.
Bernstein emphasized that “academic reorganization” could lead to more efficiency and increased savings. This includes potentially increasing the teaching load of professors and adjusting Memorandum of Agreement 62, an agreement between the College and the faculty union that regulates how many courses a professor can teach and how much they get paid for it.
“Faculty, staff and students agree,” Bernstein acknowledged in his email, that administration staffing reductions “have begun to weaken our ability to appropriately support faculty and students.” The interim president also wrote, however, that the College should continue to examine plans that will “allow for additional consolidation and/or enhanced efficiency.”
The College is currently in a hiring freeze that, with few exceptions, prevents the filling of faculty and staff positions when they become vacant. Bernstein said that continuing this hiring freeze is something he hopes to continue to cut costs in the short term.
Bernstein also stated in his email that lowering the College’s reliance on adjunct faculty, specifically for required courses, is a priority. He stated during his Faculty Senate presentation that he hopes to see a “significant” reduction in the number of adjunct professors.
The interim president recommended the College examine current library operations to determine whether they are being carried out in the most efficient way, “in the face of ever-changing technology,” he wrote in his email. He did not provide specific details as to what changes could be made.
In addition to the cost-reduction measures, Bernstein also suggested a number of new initiatives to boost revenue.
The creation of a new School of Continuing, Extended and Professional Studies would primarily focus on non-traditional students, such as part-time and non-degree-seeking students, he stated during his presentations. At the Academic Leaders meeting, Bernstein said this school would not necessarily be on site and would offer things such as certificates, badges and competencies.
Bernstein also wrote that the College could develop three-year bachelor’s degree programs, which would not be implemented in every program, as some programs require additional coursework and credits to complete.
Enhancing the College’s relationship with “select New Jersey community colleges” would not only help with student recruitment efforts, but may also assist in filling empty dorm spaces. Bernstein said during his Faculty Senate presentation that Mercer County Community College has expressed interest in utilizing some of the available unused campus housing at the College.
Additionally, Bernstein hopes to re-evaluate the “College Core” curriculum, streamline transfer and AP credits and monetize real estate that the College currently owns, including selling unusable land and developing plans for potential land use opportunities at other locations.
Expanding dual-enrollment and pre-college programs was another initiative that Bernstein suggested during his presentations but did not include in his email. He stated during the Faculty Senate meeting that he hopes to work with both public and private high schools to grow the College’s dual-enrollment program.
Bernstein also suggested re-examining the number of credit hours that the College requires for graduation, but this was only mentioned during his presentations as well. Currently, the College requires 128 credit hours, whereas the state of New Jersey only mandates 120 hours be completed. He also mentioned “modifying” foreign language and writing requirements in the email.
The College’s current debt sits at approximately $340 million and is set to be paid in annual installments. Most of this debt has accumulated due to previous construction projects of academic and residential buildings, which the state does not fund.
Conversations among college governance leaders regarding some of these plans, including the reconfiguration of library services, college core revisions and the increase in teaching loads, is expected to begin in January 2024.
“I think we can have our cake and eat it too,” Bernstein said during the Faculty Senate meeting, “if we’re thoughtful about this.”
