Tension was in the room during the Faculty Senate meeting with Grambling State University Interim President Cynthia Warrick.
It is known now that Warrick wants to stay as the president of GSU.
Warrick discussed a lot of issues and problems that the university is facing now, and during her speech brought emotion and a lot of questions into the room.
According to the Senate, this is the first time a president of the university took the time to speak to the faculty and the senate and have a hard nose discussion about what has happened and what the university needs to do in order to move forward.
Grambling is at its lowest recent enrollment, according to Warrick and because of this the university is experiencing a major financial deficit.
“The Freshman Class is 300 students shy of its normal average,” said Warrick. “We won’t meet the contract agreement with Aramark, therefore; we are in a deficit of $3 million.”
The on-campus dormitories are affected as well because Grambling will not meet the agreement with the corresponding services.
“We are trying to receive relief and get funding from the state,” Warrick said.
The university might have to furlough in the spring due to the $3 million deficit.
Admissions and recruitment are taking heat as well because their funding has been reduced and this explains the lack of freshman enrolled at the university.
Warrick has brought in a new admissions team and had a strong opinion about the previous team.
“I felt I had to let go of the previous admissions staff because they were completely dysfunctional when I got here,” Warrick said.
She was later asked if she was offered the job as permanent president would she accept, and she relied simply “Yes.”
Warrick also discussed the nursing program and issues it faces.
“Students who were admitted into the program were not meeting the requirements and should not have been admitted,” she said.
Warrick accreditation is very important because it lets the University of Louisiana system know that Grambling is on track and if students are getting by and not meeting requirements, this does the school a disservice to students.
Warrick stepped on the toes of faculty at the end of the meeting when asked about the professors not getting paid as much anymore.
“Students make up 70% of the school budget,” Warrick said. “If you want to see your paycheck increase, go out there and recruit more students to come to our university.”
Warrick says as long as Grambling acts like a hermit with its head in the ground nobody will know what is going on with the university and what programs are here to offer for incoming students