Chancellor Syverud Updates University Senate on New Federal Administration, Budget and Retirement of DPS Chief

Good Afternoon. These are interesting times for American higher education. Since the last meeting of the University Senate on Jan. 22, there have been almost daily developments coming from Washington concerning law, regulation, and policy applying to colleges and universities. I fully expect there will be more such developments between now and the next meeting of the University Senate, which is after our spring break. I expect those further developments may well concern accreditation policy and practices, student loans, and the taxation of university endowments, among other things.

Like some of you, I have been getting calls and messages every day from people in our community–faculty, students, staff, alumni, and parents. They usually are some variant of the question from reading about or reading rumors or news reports or social media about these developments, “How is this latest announcement going to affect me and people I care about at Syracuse University.” The subtext of each call is often: “Please reassure me and everyone that the University and its people are going to be OK, and you’re going to make that happen.”

So here it is: I, unfortunately, cannot guarantee certainty in this very uncertain environment. What I can do is assure you that the University and many people here are working hard every day and at night and on weekends to keep this University on course, true to its longstanding values, and welcoming to all people. How we do that this semester calls for thoughtful and wise strategy, not for knee-jerk abrupt responses. We are being thoughtful and careful; we are listening to the concerns we are hearing, including but not exclusively though the University Senate. A lot of people are doing their best to make sure the university and all its people will continue to thrive

In terms of one aspect of this, some of you may be aware that many of our peer universities are facing serious budget challenges due to changes in federal funding or suggested changes in federal funding that are being proposed or implemented. This week I am seeing other universities impose freezes on hiring and significant budget cuts. I know others are considering freezes on salaries.

As I reported at the January Senate meeting, our finances at Syracuse remain strong. Our budget for this fiscal year, FY25, remains in balance, and I expect we will run a very small surplus when our year closes on June 30. Our budget planning is more difficult this year because of uncertainties and changes coming at us, but I also expect we will propose and approve a balanced budget for FY26, which starts on July 1 this summer. As I sit here today, I do not expect to impose blanket hiring freezes. I do not expect to freeze salaries or benefits. I do expect that we will be investing in key opportunities and initiatives that the University and its schools and colleges are pursuing. I believe there are relatively few universities that can confidently say those things right now, so that should be somewhat reassuring to all.

But all that said, our budgets are foreseeably going to be tighter in the coming year than they have been, and we need to be prudent in managing our expenses if we hope to continue investing in our people. We need to look carefully for opportunities to reduce expenses without sacrificing the quality of the experience for our students. University leaders across the board are working hard on this now, and will continue to do this right through the May board meeting, which culminates when the budget for FY26 is approved. Please understand that this is, therefore, not a normal year, including in budgeting, and that each of us have to contribute in working through this.

I will be coming to a meeting of the Senate’s Employee Services, Fiscal Affairs, and Operations Committee as soon as possible in the coming weeks to share data and talk through these budget issues with greater care. At the same time, I have asked that this committee help in conducting a study of parking and transportation services here at Syracuse, working with our chief facilities officer and all stakeholders including those who expressed concern about this, to assess how our parking policies should be revised given changes in our housing, in our facilities, and in practices in the city and at other universities.

I know some of you are thinking it is odd for me to be talking about parking when so much more important is happening in the world. Yet many in our community have raised parking concerns, including through the University Senate. I think we have the bandwidth, including in the Senate, to move forward on this while also responding fairly to actionable changes from all directions, including from Washington.

I also need to share some news quickly. The Department of Public Safety Chief Craig Stone will be retiring at the end of July, and we’ll have a search starting quite soon for a successor. He’s been here three years and culminates a 40-year career in public safety service. While he’s been here, our DPS has achieved [CALEA] “advanced” accreditation. That’s very rare at universities or police departments and requires DPS to meet the highest standards for best practices, transparency, and accountability. I want to thank Chief Stone for his service. I assure you a search for a successor will commence shortly and want to hear from people interested in that search.

The University is hosting Micron Day next Tuesday [Feb. 25] in the Schine Student Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. I encourage you to come and learn more about what’s going on, including related to the University’s partnership with Micron. That includes a fireside chat with the chief people officer from Micron and with the corporate vice president of front-end U.S. expansion. This event will highlight opportunities for partnerships for students, faculty, staff, and the community. I encourage you to participate.

And since I don’t think it’s been acknowledged, I want to acknowledge that we lost a student this week. We lost first-year undergraduate student Christina Wobbe, who many knew as Elise. She was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in musical theater in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She spent her first semester on campus assisting with the Drama Department’s production of “Pippin.” I want to both extend my condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew her, and especially to thank everybody who stepped up this weekend, students, faculty, staff to support her family and her friends in this very tough time.

Thank you. I will take questions after the provost’s remarks.