Such a responsibility consumes my thoughts, for I fervently want to live with decisions that will be best for this fine university. If we, as an institution, do not make choices and decisions, time and events will make them for us. I cannot imagine that would be the choice for any of us. We need to reaffirm our commitment to students with academic and service initiatives that better prepare them for careers in the 21st century. That's at the core of why we are here - to serve students.
Adequate funding makes a distinctive learning and teaching environment possible.
Recently, enrollment growth has become stagnant or has fallen below expectations. Let me just outline what that means in terms of budget. We receive about 82 percent of that from state appropriations and the rest from the state university fee revenue. That's the good news behind increased enrollment growth, which feeds the budget - the life bread of the university, running the engines of learning, tending to our campus buildings and grounds, funding new buildings and classrooms and paying our salaries. The strained budget puts efforts on hold that would in turn enhance the campus and expanded enrollment, such as the addition of classrooms.