“State senator says Connecticut’s college system is ‘a disaster’.”
That was the title of a recent episode of NBC’s ‘Face the Facts’ series. The state senator in question is Mae Flexer, and when asked about the recent turmoils in the CSCU System, this was her immediate response:
“Frankly, I think this experiment with the Board of Regents has been a huge failure for the state of Connecticut. I’m a proud product of that system. I’m a proud graduate of Quinnebaug Valley Community College, and I think this merger of our state universities and the community college system has been a disaster for a variety of reasons, and at the top of the list being the continued failed leadership at the top of the system.”
That is a serious indictment from a state senator who, representing UConn and ECSU, has become one of the foremost voices on higher-education in the state legislature.
As a current attendee of that system at Eastern Connecticut State University, I have to agree. Every single scandal at the Board of Regents is another taint on our system, another black mark on public universities that do great things for their communities. In the past year, Eastern has made great strides to work with partners in its city – offering spaces for community organizations to meet, running classes in community involvement, working with local businesses to offer student discounts to drive business, and much more. But so long as the scandals keep happening, that isn’t what people hear about.
The first question Mae Flexer had to answer wasn’t, “What great things are the universities in your district doing, and how can the state support them?” It was, in reference to the system, “What is going on there?” And they weren’t talking about the great research or community partnerships. They were discussing four out of five executives having resigned in disgrace, with two alone in the past year, and the Chairman of the Board of Regents in the past week.
That has serious implications for all of us. When lawmakers discuss state funding, or when private partners or donors decide whether to invest in local institutions, this is what they think about. These people shouldn’t have to wonder if their money will be spent appropriately. But because of repeated scandals, that is now front of mind.
All of us deserve better than that. I know students who work night shifts to afford day classes, or day shifts for night classes. I know professors who stay in their offices in the late hours, working hard to advance their fields and prepare classes for their students. I know administrators who advocate tirelessly for the best needs of their institutions. There is so much hard work that happens at our colleges. When the systems office draws continuous bad press, all of those efforts suffer.
CSCU needs change. It needs change that should have come a year ago, when Chancellor Terrence Cheng resigned. Reforms could have been made then, that could have prevented a great deal of the subsequent mess. Instead, Cheng was given a false position at full pay; John Maduko was appointed Interim Chancellor without proper investigation into prior misconduct; and now a new chancellor is needed without a new, improved selection process having been completed.
Missed opportunities led to this; the system cannot afford to miss any more.
Regents; lawmakers, administrators and other policymakers need to take serious steps to salvage the system if the combined Board of Regents structure is to survive at all. As Rep. Seth Bronko has called for, the legislature should conduct oversight hearings directly, and to force a transparent process into exactly what has happened at the system over the past several years. All of that information deserves to come to light properly.
More student input into decisions taken should be considered. Students are guaranteed representation at the Student Advisory Committee to the Board of Regents. However, at the most recent joint meeting, several questions were often deflected or given empty answers. Students, the biggest and primary stakeholder within the system, deserve better than that. These meetings should be more common and provide real answers.
The Board of Regents itself should act more decisively. It’s telling that each of the four former executives who had to leave in scandal were not fired, but rather, resigned. The Board of Regents has the authority to select a chancellor who serves ‘at the pleasure of the board’. Although it may be a difficult decision to fire someone, doing so when the situation warrants would send a message that corruption and misbehavior is not tolerated.
Finally, a study should be done, to see how many savings the combined CSCU System actually creates. In FY2025, the systems office apparently cost $22,199,258, or more than Charter Oak’s budget that year. A consolidated system is supposed to be more efficient; yet, repeated audits have found P-Card abuses; centralization efforts incomplete since the 90s; and million-dollar programs that were mismanaged.
If the system does actually save substantial amounts of money, then a consolidated system remains a good idea. If it doesn’t, then lawmakers should consider a different approach to make the universities autonomous again.
Conversations have happened, and have continued to happen. As a student member of Eastern’s University Senate, I have spoken to John Maduko and Marty Guay, as I have as a member of the Student Advisory Committee. But conversations need to lead to decisions. It is beyond time for action, for reform, and for stability, to make a substantial difference in the CSCU System and everyone it serves. That time should have come sooner; but I hope that it will at least come now.
Mathew Biadun of Bristol is President of the Student Government Administration and as Eastern’s representative to the Student Advisory Committee to the Board of Regents.