By Sarah Severson

After growing its campus in student attendance and physical size over the last few years, Roosevelt University is cutting back, with elimination of 235 courses the most controversial proposal.

From 2007 to 2009, student attendance increased significantly, which encouraged Roosevelt’s administration to increase faculty and build a new 32-story, $110 million building. In 2008, 7,692 full-time students attended Roosevelt. By 2010, however, enrollment had dropped nearly 1,000 students to 6,766. The school’s budget now posts a $7.8 million deficit due to program expenses, building costs, and reduced enrollment, which the university attributes to the current economic downturn.

The university’s budget and planning committee, which consists of administrators and faculty members, recently drafted a plan to remove 235 courses (out of the 2,500 courses previously available) and extinguish $3 million in operating costs such as travel and hiring, as well as reduce contributions to staff and faculty members’ retirement plans from 12% to 4% for the first $40,000 of salary. All of these measures are designed to help balance the budget.

“Everyone is hoping the contribution reduction is just a one-year occurrence,” said Tom Karow, university spokesperson. “The president’s goal is to revisit the reduction in retirement contributions as soon as possible. Hopefully next year we’ll have some good news.”

University president Charles Middleton acknowledged the budget challenges for upcoming academic years in a meeting with faculty members in May. The university held forums throughout the summer to discuss current and future plans for the school, Karow said.

The Roosevelt Adjunct Faculty Organization (RAFO) is a union of more than 200 adjunct faculty members at Roosevelt University. Its members are concerned the budget plan could potentially increase class sizes as courses are cut or combined.

“We serve students who traditionally wouldn’t do well in classes of 100 or 200 students, those who need more personal attention,” said RAFO President LuAnn Swartzlander-Kraus. “You can’t do that when classes are loaded up with 40 to 50 students.”

RAFO has more meetings scheduled with administrators to get more information about the proposed cuts and to make suggestions for alternatives to balance the budget. Meetings have had amicable discussions between RAFO’s leadership and the school administration, according to Swartzlander-Kraus.

RAFO members have seen a number of classes eliminated for the fall semester, Swartzlander-Kraus said, “but we are hopeful we have seen the worst of the budget cuts in terms of our members losing classes. RAFO is monitoring enrollment and retention numbers as we enter the fall 2011 and spring 2012 terms, and we will continue to help Roosevelt fulfill its mission of social justice as we proceed.”

Graduate student Patrick Garrett is one student who is concerned the elimination of certain classes will add more time for him to finish his degree, an MFA in creative writing.

“The cuts negatively affect working students who rely on night classes,” he said. “They are often the first to get cut. There will be less variety of classes offered, and some classes will not be offered every semester.”

Garrett noted the university has catered to non-traditional students in years past—such as older students, many of whom are working and going back to school. However, he believes in recent years the school has added new initiatives such as athletic programs to lure young students.

“I think if the school concentrated on its strengths and what makes it unique compared to other schools in the area, it might start to thrive again,” Garrett said. The university is indeed making new efforts to attract more students, according to Karow—building closer relationships with community colleges, instituting academic transfer programs, and strengthening bonds with high schools in the city and suburbs.

Alumni are “reaching out and spreading the word about the university’s quality of education,” according to Karow.

“It’s our goal to reestablish the areas that were cut as soon as possible,” Karow said. “We have many outstanding adjuncts [faculty], and the sooner we get back to where we were, the better.
In the meantime, the university looks at its athletic opportunities as some of its biggest attractions. The university is about to break ground for its new field house, the Lillian and Larry Goodman Center. The facility will house a multi-purpose gymnasium for intramural sports, recreational activities, intercollegiate basketball for men and women, and volleyball for women.

Roosevelt athletes do not receive scholarships, so they come to the university because they like the school and want to play a sport at a varsity level, Karow said.

Roosevelt’s strongest academic programs include the performing arts, music, business administration, and psychology. This summer, it opened up a new pharmacy program that will continue to expand over the next few years.

“It’s an exciting time to be at the university as we’re opening these new buildings,” Karow said.