President Richard L. McCormick Reaffirms Goals to Maximize Resources, Seek New Renenue Sources, Prepare Students for 21st-Century Lives in Address to Community

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Against the backdrop of a challenging economic climate, Rutgers will continue to vigorously support the intellectual growth of its students, the creation of new knowledge by faculty and the improvement of the quality of life for all New Jersey residents.

To help accomplish these goals, Rutgers will persist in its search for increased and new sources of revenue to create and expand programs geared to improve lives here and abroad, and also to ease the financial burden placed on current and future students and their families.

President Richard L. McCormick reaffirmed those aims today in his seventh Annual Address to the University Community (http://www.president.rutgers.edu/), albeit with the caveat that Rutgers has earned “a reprieve, not a pass” from the full effects of the recession.

McCormick spoke before an estimated audience of more than 500 students, staff, faculty and guests at the first University Senate meeting of the academic year in the Rutgers Student Center on College Avenue. Hundreds more watched via the RU-tv Network and listened to a live broadcast by WRSU.

From his opening remarks, McCormick made clear that higher education nationally – not only in New Jersey and at Rutgers – had been adversely affected by the bleak worldwide economy. “The recession is creating new realities for higher education,” he said. He observed that the university had experienced a 20 percent increase in requests for financial aid and a surge in room cancellations by families no longer able afford room and board.

Referencing such budget balancing measures as double-digit tuition hikes, employee layoffs and furloughs, and program closures by other universities, McCormick noted New Jersey’s  prerecession, two-decade trend toward lower funding for higher education, which cut state support from 70 percent of a student’s education cost in 1990 to 40 percent today.

“Nationwide, we have seen a vast change from the years after World War II when Americans invested heavily in colleges and universities because of the educational opportunities and economic progress they brought,” McCormick said. He pointed to the creation of community colleges and the expansion of traditional campuses, the GI Bill and deep investments in scientific research as proof of the nation’s commitment to higher education.

“Elements of these commitments persist, but the belief in public support for higher education declined,” he said. As possible reasons, McCormick cited the view of some that as a “mature industry,” higher education no longer needs government subsidies, or that a philosophical shift had occurred devaluing the collective societal benefits of higher education and demanding that those directly benefitting from a college education bear the costs. “The recession has quickened the pace of this transition and has intensified serious discussions about the future direction of higher education,” McCormick said.

To date, five factors have helped Rutgers weather the current economic storm: a concerted effort to find savings and efficiencies; federal stimulus legislation that enabled the state to stabilize the university’s base budget for this year; the shared sacrifice of faculty, staff and administration; good management of limited resources; and success in expanding revenue from places other than Trenton. McCormick noted that Rutgers is working to surmount obstacles brought about by historic trends or present troubles that threaten to endure next year.

“Through a combination of luck, sacrifice and hard work, we have a reprieve, not a pass,” he said, and called for decisive action to ensure Rutgers’ future. As specific examples of cost savings, he cited the installation of the solar farm that generates 10 percent of electricity on the Livingston campus; the willingness of unions representing many faculty and staff to defer raises; the “reshaping” of business practices concerning audits, governance compliance and employment contracts; and the commitment of university deans to allocate available resources for academic programs.

McCormick added that the leadership and hard work of many facilitated the opening or renovations of six facilities on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick and that Rutgers’ commitment to all its host communities is ongoing.

Despite economic uncertainties, Rutgers will continue to build programs of distinction and invest in such strategically selected fields as climate change, energy, nutrition, human genetics and proteomics, advanced materials, transportation, childhood studies and urban entrepreneurship. The president credited faculty excellence for generating a record-setting $391 million in support for research last year, and the Rutgers Foundation for establishing a record of its own: $128.6 million in philanthropic gifts that support many undergraduate programs and also the Rutgers Future Scholars Program.

While some have suggested that Rutgers needs a radically different business plan to face changing realities, McCormick called for an “accelerated evolution of the existing business plan” that relies on the entrepreneurial spirit of administrators and faculty to leverage the university’s academic strengths, meet students’ needs and generate revenue. He encouraged expansion of revenue-generating executive education, continuing education and certificate programs; professional master’s degrees; online and hybrid courses; and off-campus degree completion programs. Revenue from online and off-campus courses earned $20.5 million last year and Rutgers anticipates a threefold revenue growth from these within five years. 

“Where Rutgers has the academic capability, where there are students who want to learn what we teach and where there are dollars to be earned, Rutgers should establish programs like these,” McCormick said.

McCormick promised the university community will work very hard to grow its private fundraising and research support as the Rutgers Foundation prepares for its fall 2010 capital campaign launch. He spoke of plans to turn the Livingston campus into a hub of business and professional education and home to many revenue-generating programs, new apartment-style housing for 1,500 students, a business school building, and a hotel and conference center available to all Rutgers units. “This is in addition to the student center, dining center and landscaping projects already taking place,” he said.

McCormick added the university will vigorously continue to pursue increased funding from Trenton, noting that Rutgers channels $3.8 billion into New Jersey’s economy, a greater than six-to-one return on government’s investment in its state university. Similarly, he cited Rutgers’ own investment in programs for returning student-veterans, some 400 of whom are current enrollees.

Educating all Rutgers students to be productive, 21^st-century citizens in the new global society remains at the core of the university’s three-part mission of teaching, research and service, McCormick said, adding that many faculty already are engaged in international collaborations. “We must take steps to ensure that our students truly understand cultures, languages, regions and economic influences beyond their own,” he said.

While the university already has established dynamic, internationally focused academic programs and the School of Arts and Sciences has made a strong commitment to international service learning, there is room for improvement in international learning, McCormick acknowledged. “Universities that are most successful in this field incorporate a global ethos throughout their schools and programs. Rutgers is not there yet, and too few of our students graduate with real preparation for global citizenship,” he said.

“Within five years, we must increase dramatically the number of Rutgers students who have meaningful international exposure by the time they graduate. Global education does not have to occur abroad. It can mean engagement with communities right here in New Jersey. Our students will live their lives in a global society, so we should challenge them to obtain a global perspective as they pursue their Rutgers degrees.

“Jersey Roots, Global Reach is not just our slogan,” McCormick said. “It is also what we want for our students.”  

McCormick has presented an annual address since his arrival at Rutgers in 2002. It is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni, members of Rutgers’ governing boards and the public.