Emporia State University President Ken Hush says a transformation is fully underway on campus, and he offered his perspective on KVOE’s Morning Show on Thursday.
Hush says the “ESU model,” which has found favor with large-scale donors, the Kansas Board of Regents and the Kansas Legislature, was based on a simple premise: how university operations should look if everything started from scratch.
Hush says the overall goal of reinvestments underway for almost a year was to positively impact as many students as possible.
Emporia State has announced numerous adjustments, including a realignment of programs based on their “commonalities,” according to Provost Brent Thomas, but it also led to the elimination to over 30 faculty positions — over 10 of whom are awaiting word on their appeals through the Kansas Office Administrative Hearings, awaiting word on the university’s legal challenge of the appeal in Lyon County District Court or awaiting the start of their federal lawsuit against ESU.
Hush says the university should have made financial adjustments much earlier, especially as overall and on-campus enrollment peaked almost 20 years ago. He’s also expecting lower enrollment this fall.
Hush says ESU will continue to “look for efficiencies and adapt quickly” as needed as the class year continues.
