At Kean University there is just one voice allowed to be heard. President Dawood Farahi, uses fear and intimidation rather than leadership, to control the university community. Because of the systematic suppression of freedom of speech and freedom to assemble on campus, the Council of Concerned Faculty are going directly to the public to reach students, parents, other faculty and taxpayers with an alternative message of what they believe is really in the best interest of students.
The Union invites you to decide what is the truth about Kean University
You don't need to believe the arguments presented by the Kean Federation of Teachers. The KFT has been asking for the state government of New Jersey to do an impartial investigation of fiscal practices at Kean University for several years. We expect that the findings will support the Council of Concerned Faculty's claims that the Farahi Administration's unchecked spending and lack of support for academics has placed Kean University in serious financial and academic jeopardy.
It is our position that a university exists to educate students. The union wants to see that the money goes to the academic programs to support teaching and student learning. Farahi wants you to believe that the union refuses to give concessions and that all the money is tied up in union benefits. But, that is not the case at all. Please read on and we hope that this blog will help to get the truth to the public.
It is our position that a university exists to educate students. The union wants to see that the money goes to the academic programs to support teaching and student learning. Farahi wants you to believe that the union refuses to give concessions and that all the money is tied up in union benefits. But, that is not the case at all. Please read on and we hope that this blog will help to get the truth to the public.
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Here's our message....you decide.
From the Council of Concerned Faculty
Concerning: Recommending Reorganizing the Administration
and Providing Public Oversight for University Administration
The Farahi Administration admits that it has steered the university into financial ruin and is now desperate to bail itself out through a proposed massive reorganization of the academic structure, the one entity least responsible for the current situation. Last October, Bob Braun, columnist for the Star-Ledger, identified what is really to blame for the university’s financial problems:
New Jersey higher education isn't just beset by scandals. It is a scandal, a chronic state of affairs tawdry enough to rival a tale of Hudson County politics set in the 1930. And that state of affairs will continue without state oversight. Despite annual spending of $2.2 billion in public funds, colleges are free of public policing.
Recently, the administration at Kean University revealed plans to
· combine or eliminate academic programs
· reduce academic support and budgets
· eliminate all department chairs replacing them with an added layer of administrative rather than academic oversight
· Increase reliance on adjunct professors, and increase class size.
Interestingly, last year they imposed a universally unpopular schedule change that promised to bring in more money to the university and hold down tuition costs and increase enrollment.
· It didn’t. Tuition and fees are equal to all the other state institutions.
· Students are rejecting Kean University in large numbers at a time when most state colleges have seen strong enrollment increases. (Montclair increased 20% to Kean’s 11 %)
· The spring Open House was so poorly attended that an emergency second open house was scheduled for May 3rd.
· For the first time, Graduate enrollments are flat, coming directly after the implementation of the new schedule that many students felt adversely affected their work or family schedules.
The Council of Concerned faculty agrees with the Kean Federation of Teachers (KFT) that it is administrative fiscal mismanagement that has caused this situation and supports its call for state intervention, particularly an impartial audit of finances.
The university administration has consistently sought public opinion against the faculty as a way of diverting attention to the real issues of fiscal abuse. That other state universities have managed to operate without the same punitive policies toward students and faculty, should prompt taxpayers to ask: Where is the money going at Kean University? Equally important, The Council of Concerned Faculty calls for a drastic reduction in the Kean University administration that has ballooned out of control. Kean has 59 more administrators than Montclair State University and Kean has about 150 fewer faculty. Clearly, the answer for a successful university is to have far fewer administrators and more full time faculty. Kean University graduation rates are the worst in the state, around 17%. Kean addresses that problem by cutting academic programs, increasing reliance on adjuncts, and reducing academic support. If you want students to graduate, give them teachers not administrators.
The Council of Concerned Faculty agrees with the KFT. Here are the real issues:
Since Farahi became President, the University’s debt has ballooned from $35 million to nearly $400 million. Data supplied by the administration shows that the debt service on its 2007E series of bonds has increased by $6 million for this fiscal year. It is unacceptable for faculty, staff and students to suffer for the administration’s abysmal fiscal management.
Further, the administration appears to be misrepresenting the facts. According to the KFT:
The worst-case scenario is a $6 million deficit out of a $150 million budget. That represents a maximum potential shortfall of 4%. Institutions of our size see variations in revenue of this magnitude all the time and routinely plan for such deficits. We believe that a calm, rational, collaborative approach can yield the savings necessary to balance the budget with no disruption to the University’s operation.
KFT Recommendations
- Fiscal transparency and accountability are required. The administration must first provide the full, true budgetary numbers for independent analysis.
- Tap the $26 million fund balance. There is plenty of money to cover the deficit and that is its purpose.
- Reduce administrative bloat. Montclair State University manages a student body 25% larger than Kean’s with 59 fewer administrators (104 to our 163). At well over $100k per administrator, Kean could eliminate the entire deficit by “right-sizing” its management.
- Suspend construction. Institutions experiencing true financial exigencies halt construction projects until finances improve. Why is the administration so willing to violate Union contracts yet considers construction contracts sacrosanct?
- Freeze hiring. The salary and benefits of fourteen new faculty positions plus additional administrative positions totals $1.5 million, offsetting most of the $2 million cut in base funding. This would be a temporary measure until resources could be redirected from non-classroom related areas.
The Council of Concerned Faculty agree with Bob Braun. There needs to be state policing of public universities, so that one lone administrator such as Dawood Farahi (or dictator, as Farahi was called by Senator Raymond Lesniak) will be required to answer to the public for his irresponsible, disastrous financial decisions without further penalizing the students. Further, there should also be an investigation as to why the Board of Trustees has failed to provide reasonable oversight for that irresponsible spending.
Attack on Academic Programs
Lies, Lies and More Lies…
Power can create great opportunity to do good or evil. It can be used to encourage, support, and reward others or it can be abused for personal gain, coercion, or to intimidate, or punish. It is a measure of personal character and integrity on how power is used. The Farahi Administration once again used the excuse of financial crisis to impose punishment on people and programs that dared to be critical or even question the administration. Despite the restored finances, the university decimated several strong, popular and viable programs, eliminating and combining several others, all without documenting any savings whatsoever. It managed to do this without even the courtesy of allowing the departments the knowledge that such plans were in the works. Most departments only became aware of the plans when they were announced at the Board of Trustees meeting on May 18th. Members of the departments were stunned, not by the action, but at how little the Vice President for Academic Affairs actually knew about the departments, how erroneous the facts presented were, and how unconcerned he was about the consequences involving faculty and students. The Council of Concerned Faculty rejects the Farahi Administration’s body of lies, the personal vendetta, and personal lack of integrity that has lead to dictatorship, not leadership. To the faculty of the affected departments we offer our sincere understanding of the circumstances and applaud the strength it took to fight for your programs and students, despite personal risk.
Thank You to Our Sister Institutions For Your Help and Support. Our Concerns Are Your Concerns!
From the Council of Concerned Faculty
Concerning: How the Farahi Administration Charges Students More but Gives Them Less…
On Monday, April 27, 2009 a poll vote revealed that 92% of faculty and professional sfaff voted NO CONFIDENCE in President Dawood Farahi’s ability to lead the university.
To the Students, Parents, and Taxpayers of New Jersey:
Another Point of View
On Thursday, April 30, 2009, V.P. for Finance, Philip Connelly and Interim V.P. for Academic Affairs, Mark Lender, distributed a message defending the actions taken by President Dawood Farahi in his unilateral attempt to dismantle the academic affairs of this state university. They reiterated the same fallacious arguments that the answer to a projected budget deficit is to reorganize academic affairs. They lay out no plan and no financial savings associated with the action. The Council of Concerned Faculty and the Kean Federation of Teachers is determined to bring the truth to students and the public. They ask you to demand that an impartial outside agency be brought in to determine the truth about the financial situation at Kean University. Rather than reorganizing academic affairs, the entity least responsible for the fiscal mess, they suggest instead, a reorganization of the administration whose failed policies have singled out Kean University as the only state university to be in serious trouble.
Why are Dawood Farahi and the Board of Trustees permitted to railroad through changes that faculty and professional staff believe will have an irreversible and detrimental effect on the university? This is a public institution with public employees, where any semblance of shared democratic governance has been systematically suppressed or subverted. Faculty, other employees, and in particular, the Unions have been asking for years to have the state intervene with a true impartial forensic audit of finances.
Once again the administration has targeted academic programs and faculty. The facts do not support the administrations arguments and will not begin to address the financial mismanagement of the university:
Administration: Faculty salaries and raises are to blame for the current fiscal crisis.
FACT: Kean has only 354 full time faculty, compared with more than 500 at Montclair State University. 60% of all Kean classes are taught by more than 1,000 adjunct instructors who have no required office hours and no advising. Montclair’s faulty has the same union representation and the same pay scale and same contract raises of approximately 3%, and yet, Montclair’s president, Susan Cole,has declared that while finances are tight, the institution is sound and no drastic measures are planned. Montclair and the other state institutions are not dismantling their academic programs. Kean has the worst graduation rates in the state at around 17%. Research shows that successful universities have the most resident faculty. Kean has the worst record of academic support and now wants to cut it further, while the other state universities have no plans to make any drastic academic changes. While Kean will reduce programs, affecting the quality of its educational offerings, Montclair will welcome its largest student body ever in the fall, and even anticipates expanding a number of departments into Schools. Other universities have indicated they have no plans to reduce programs or faculty.
On the other hand, there would be a substantial savings by making major cuts to the number of administrators and their high salaries, now associated with Kean’s administrative bloat.
Kean has 59 more administrators than Montclair, (Kean 164 to Montclair’s 103) and Montclair has a 25% larger student body! Administrators make on average twice as much as faculty and have no oversight for hiring, spending, or other restrictions that are imposed on faculty. Clearly, Montclair appears to have a great deal more to offer students, educationally.
Administration: They are concerned about students.
FACT: They have completely misled the students and public. Students will pay more and get less: The Farahi administration is determined to cut programs, increase class size, increase dependence on adjunct faculty, reduce class offerings, force students into five or six day schedules, increase tuition, substantially increase fees , and reduce educational opportunities.
A combination of tuition and fees puts Kean almost exactly at the same cost as Montclair, but Kean students are getting a whole lot less for their money. The plans to dismantle the academic programs of the university, hastily put together and as yet to be revealed to the faculty, students, and departments affected ( other than in the vaguest terms), are being rushed into action without regard for the academic structure currently in place. It will affect in total, the very essence of a university academic structure. The entities affected have had no access to written documents and no input. Kean University is facing Middle States reaccreditation. This administration has put that accreditation at serious risk.
The Farahi administration fails students, faculty and taxpayers.
THE ADMINISTRATION HAS PROVIDED NO WRITTEN PLAN, NO DOCUMENTS AS TO HOW MUCH MONEY THE PROPOSED CHANGES WILL SAVE, AND NO DOCUMENTATON OF ALTERNATIVE MEASURES
The Farahi administration has cut academic funding while growing the university debt from $35million to over $400 million. It attempts to reconcile the resulting budget deficit at the expense of students and academics. The Council of Concerned Faculty and the KFT are not opposed to examining measures to cut costs, but they ask that the process be a thoughtful, transparent, thorough look at the current finances, the uncontrolled spending, and viable alternative plans.
Because 92% of Faculty and Staff have no confidence in the ability of Dawood Farahi to lead the university, and because his own administration’s failed policies have placed the university in grave peril and financial crisis, and because no other state university has had to attack its academic programs or faculty in a similar manner, and because the accreditation of the university has been placed at risk, the Council of Concerned Faculty asks that those responsible, including Dawood Farahi, President, Philip Connelly, V.P. for Finance, and Mark Lender, Interim V.P. for Academic Affairs, be held accountable to the students, parents, and taxpayers of New Jersey.
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