Philip Austin, the interim president of the state’s largest public college system, has a lesson for those who are upset with the governor’s plan to pump billions into the state’s flagship university while cutting the funding to the other public colleges.

“If someone gets a huge windfall, then others are going to get more two years later. That’s just reality,” Austin told legislators on the Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee this week.

Austin’s confidence stems from his experience as the former president of the University of Connecticut. He also has taught higher education administration courses at UConn for several years.

On Friday, Austin’s prediction moved closer to coming true.

“More [funding] is coming,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told Austin, who was sitting next to him during a meeting with educators at the State Capitol.

Not surprised, Austin patted the governor on the back and gave him a smile and nod.

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Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

jrabe@ctmirror.org

Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

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