Rocket Nation Recovery Part 43 – With Spring 2023 enrollment numbers down, cash running out, and a failed Provost search has UToledo reached a culminating point? Is the crisis turning into a disaster?
This week, two finalists for Provost are making the rounds. Is it true that:
- Senior leaders within the Provosts office have privately declared the search a failure?
- The candidates are nice but lack the crisis management experience required to expedite restructuring and reduce costs by $10-14M in 2024 to cover the continued enrollment decline?
- No candidates were recruited with UT and/or Toledo ties?
- UT does not have the time, financial resources, or margin of error to provide on the job crisis management training to a new Provost?
Is it true that:
- The current President’s contract is up in June 2025?
- If a new Provost is hired in February 2024, they will not arrive in Toledo until May? Is it possible they will not make substantive decisions until June 2025?
- The VP Enrollment position will be posted after the new Provost arrives in May? Is it possible that search will end in December 2024 with the new VP arriving in Toledo in May 2025?
Does UT have the financial resources to wait until June 2025 to make decisions? Do UT faculty and staff have the emotional fortitude to wait until June 2025?
Is it true that UT’s senior leader is pushing a long term vision called STEM H that calls for the elimination of the Colleges of Business, Education, Arts and Letters, and University College? Is it true that the deans, chairs, and faculty have not been involved in shaping this vision?
If you were a trustee, would you use the February 2024 board meeting to cut our losses and install a crisis manager as Interim President? Would you ask the new Interim President to immediately:
- Form a crisis team from outside to clear all obstacles that have been erected to block decision making?
- Stop the Provost hiring process?
- Give current Interim Provost Scott Molitor and CFO Matt Schroeder a mandate and complete control to make emergency decisions to stop the crisis?
- Declare a financial emergency to enable the Interim Provost the flexibility to expedite decisions?
- Quickly get the tough decisions out of the way, so top candidates for President, Provost and VP Enrollment can be attracted to reignite UToledo after restructuring?
- Provide transparent updates to The Rocket Nation to begin restoring trust?
As a trustee would you feel a moral and ethical obligation to step down if you could not make the hard choices required to keep the crisis from becoming a disaster?
Who is your top crisis manager choice for Interim President?
It’s ok to feel uncomfortable in a crisis. Please pray for thoughtful, compassionate accountability and urgent actions to prevent a disaster in The Rocket Nation.
