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FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

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According to this Sun Sentinel article:

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Florida Atlantic University could close down its downtown Fort Lauderdale and Treasure Coast campuses as a way to deal with $24.7 million in state funding cuts.

Dennis Crudele, vice president for finance, presented the options to the Board of Trustees Thursday. A hearing for faculty will be held Monday at 2 p.m. in the Lynn College of Nursing. The Board of Trustees expects to make a final decision in June.

The Fort Lauderdale programs would move to FAU’s Davie campus by July 2013, while Treasure Coast operations would move from the Port St. Lucie option to the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce by July of this year. Tenure and tenure-track faculty would be moved to other campuses, but layoffs are possible for other employees, Crudele said.

The Fort Lauderdale closure would save about $1.9 million, while the Treasure Coast $1.7 million. This would bring the total number of FAU campuses down from seven to five.

The buildings may be sold to state colleges. Broward College has a campus next door to FAU’s downtown tower.

FAU would also strip the SeaTech campus in Dania Beach of its $239,000 in state dollars and require it to be self supporting through research dollars and other private funds.

The total cuts needed are $10.6 million after tuition increases and other revenues are factored in.


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It's a start. I say move everyone to Boca, including the Honors College, and sell off what you don't need for research (those buildings you can keep)
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

The only problem with closing the Jupiter campus is we lose the recognition of being right outside of Roger Dean. We always have a baseball game there every season. I think we should keep that one. In fact I think FAU should put in a request to host a regional and use Roger Dean

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

Jab979 said

The only problem with closing the Jupiter campus is we lose the recognition of being right outside of Roger Dean. We always have a baseball game there every season. I think we should keep that one. In fact I think FAU should put in a request to host a regional and use Roger Dean

I wouldn't think it possible to close the Jupiter campus with the Scripps and Max Plank partnerships at that location.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

Wish we could just move everything to Boca but don't think we have enough space on campus to do it. Fau is listed as Boca and to me the other six locations weaken and dilute that.
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

GeorgiaOwl said

Wish we could just move everything to Boca but don't think we have enough space on campus to do it. Fau is listed as Boca and to me the other six locations weaken and dilute that.

Agreed. It's too hard to be everywhere all the time and they're constantly fighting to unite the campuses because people who aren't in Boca are really disconnected from the university.

We need to strengthen our brand and the FAU experience, consolidate our resources and improve the Boca campus.

illinoisowl said

I wouldn't think it possible to close the Jupiter campus with the Scripps and Max Plank partnerships at that location.

That's one of the top reasons why it would be last on the list of non-Boca campuses.

As they stated in the paper, it's easier to close Ft. Lauderdale because the two towers can be sold to BCC (who are expanding and need the same anyway) and the Port St. Lucie campus can be sold to Indian River State College because they're also experiencing growth.

I understand that the Ft. Lauderdale campus is much closer to Davie but the "star" program in Ft. Lauderdale is Architecture and that's the sort of thing that should be in Boca.
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

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FAU - Frequently Asked Questions about the University’s 2012-13 Budget

University's Release of action for Budget Situation
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

To Faculty and Staff:

As you know, state funding for our University has been reduced repeatedly over the last several years, with the most severe one-time cut of more than $24.7 million scheduled to take effect on July 1. Over the past five years, FAU has sustained $77.3 million in general revenue reductions while continuing to grow. Since the close of the 2012 legislative session in March, we have been working to develop a plan that will enable the University to cope with this cutback of state financial support. Nearly 500 faculty, staff, students and friends of FAU used two specially created websites to contribute ideas about how expenses could be reduced and income increased. Many of the suggestions align with the plan below, which was developed by members of the senior administrative staff in consultation with the Deans, the Chancellor, the State College Presidents and the FAU Trustees.

On Monday, April 23, at 2 p.m. a University-wide budget forum will be led by Senior Vice President for Financial Affairs Dennis Crudele in room 201 of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing on the Boca Raton campus. We encourage you to attend.

Throughout this very difficult and painful process, our central goal has been to preserve the University’s ability to fulfill its core responsibilities of serving students; carrying out research, scholarship and creative activities; and engaging with the greater community in meaningful ways. We were guided by the priorities of the strategic plan, which includes continued development of the University’s three signature themes: marine and coastal issues, biotechnology and contemporary societal challenges. The plan we have formulated strengthens our Boca Raton, Jupiter and Davie campuses, making them more robust centers of student life and maximizing the use of their facilities. It also takes increased advantage of the world-class resources at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, which has recently been enhanced by more than $44 million in new facilities, infrastructure improvements and research support.

Yesterday the budget reduction plan was presented to the Board of Trustees, and I want to share its details with you now. The Board is expected to vote on the plan in June. For your additional information, a list of questions and answers has been posted at

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FAU - Frequently Asked Questions about the University’s 2012-13 Budget.

The plan has been formulated to achieve the following goals:
• To create a university that is right-sized and well positioned to best serve its students, the academic pursuits of its faculty and the community
• To ensure that this University is focused on student achievement, efficiency, best business practices and effective planning; administrative overhead must be lowered while student services increase
• To nurture a dynamic and engaged campus life that stimulates learning and best prepares students for intellectual discovery and professional life
• To pursue research, scholarship and creative activities that advance the challenges of FAU’s signature themes, broaden knowledge and intellectual accomplishment, support innovation and commercialization of discoveries and inventions, and enrich our cultural life
• To ensure the best and highest uses of the University’s facilities and physical spaces

The objectives upon which the plan is based include the following:
• To protect and strengthen the core academic mission of the University
• To increase revenue by admitting a larger qualified entering class
• To improve graduation rates
• To protect funding for faculty and direct classroom instruction
• To reduce administrative overhead
• To centralize back office administrative functions on the Boca Raton campus
• To ensure that summer courses have sufficient enrollments to pay for the cost of instruction and campus overhead
• To improve advising services to help students move toward graduation
• To increase research by strengthening strategic initiatives
• To continue to implement cost-saving measures on energy consumption
• To examine staffing efficiencies and, where appropriate, hire in 9- or 10-month positions
• To work with FAU’s state college partners to better serve the region and students with appropriate degree programs

Options to achieve budget reductions:
• Suspension of the Treasure Coast (Port St. Lucie) campus by July 1, 2012. The 247 students (less than 1 percent of overall enrollment) currently enrolled on this campus will be given assistance to ensure their ability to graduate on time. Academic programs will be moved to FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) in Fort Pierce or to the Jupiter campus. Tenured and tenure-track faculty will be moved to Jupiter, HBOI or Boca Raton. Non-academic personnel will have the opportunity to move into other University positions for which they are qualified. Law enforcement officers will be moved to the Jupiter campus.
• Suspension of the Downtown Fort Lauderdale campus by June 2013. The 569 students (2 percent of total enrollment) currently enrolled on this campus will be given assistance to ensure their ability to graduate on time. Academic programs will be moved to Davie or Boca Raton. Administrative employees will have the opportunity to move into other University positions for which they are qualified.
• Establishment of the Dania Beach site as a self-supporting research facility. State funding of this site will be discontinued, and the facility will become self-supporting through research grants. Academic programs offered by the department of ocean engineering will be relocated to Boca Raton, Davie or HBOI. Students will follow faculty and research projects to their new locations. Administrative employees will have the opportunity to move into other University positions for which they are qualified.
• Construction of a summer schedule that meets the needs of students and is cost-effective. Courses offered in Summer 2012 will include those that were in historical demand as well as limited access courses such as lab sections, practica and other courses with typically lower enrollments. Additional sections will be created for over-enrolled classes, and non-degree-seeking students will be admitted earlier.
• Improvement of operational efficiencies and creation of savings. Cost-cutting measures will include reducing departmental budgets across the board by 2 to 4 percent, reducing employees’ cellphone stipends, investigating more cost-effective telecommunication services, centralizing printing functions, consolidating and outsourcing some operational functions, and hiring on 9- or 10-month contracts. Also, revenue-producing auxiliaries will generate all or part of the compensation for positions assigned to them. The possibility of employee furloughs will be considered at a later date. Green initiatives will continue to be pursued for their environmental and economic value. Back office administrative functions will be centralized on the Boca Raton campus.
• Adoption of strategies to increase revenue. Efforts will be renewed to increase the enrollment of qualified traditional age in-state and out-of-state students on the Boca Raton campus and to improve retention. The possibility of offering lower-division courses on the Davie campus will be explored. Higher enrollment in the Honors College will be pursued, and research endeavors at HBOI (ocean science) and the Jupiter campus (neuroscience) will be vigorously supported. Educational opportunities at HBOI will be increased. FAU will apply for permission to charge market-rate tuition. Some facilities will be leased to other educational organizations.

Benchmarks set for the cuts outlined above must be met by three critical dates: July 1 (beginning of the fiscal year), August 20 (start of classes), December 31 (six-month budget mark).

As I said at the beginning of this message, development of this cost-cutting plan has been an arduous, painful process, and I thank everyone who has contributed to it. Working together we will weather this storm and keep our University strong as we move ahead.

Sincerely,
Mary Jane Saunders, Ph.D.
President
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

Jab979 said

The only problem with closing the Jupiter campus is we lose the recognition of being right outside of Roger Dean. We always have a baseball game there every season. I think we should keep that one. In fact I think FAU should put in a request to host a regional and use Roger Dean

Yeah, the Jupiter campus would be the last to ever be cut I would think.  Population growth in that area is supposed to boom over the next 10 years.  Nova just built a campus up there as well. 

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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Re: FAU's 7 campuses could become 5

GeorgiaOwl said

Wish we could just move everything to Boca but don't think we have enough space on campus to do it. Fau is listed as Boca and to me the other six locations weaken and dilute that.

True, being spread over 250 miles hurts us… its like spreading an ounce of cream cheese on a dozen bagels…

It's Owl Time!
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