Important Update on Our Path Forward

Dear Colleagues:

This has been a period of significant change at Syracuse University, and our community has met that change with characteristic grace and empathy. Thank you! Before many of you are fully engaged with summer vacation plans, I have an important update to share.

As you are aware, higher education is navigating a period of profound demographic, technological, financial and political disruption. Stemming from that disruption is a question—being asked at kitchen tables, in high schools and across the halls of government—and it’s one we must take seriously. The question is this: Is college worth it?

Institutions that approach answering that question with clarity of purpose and discipline will emerge stronger. Those that do not will face an uncertain future. As Chancellor, my obligation is to ensure that Syracuse University rises to meet this moment with purpose and resolve.

Two weeks ago, I updated you on our Fall 2026 enrollment. As that picture comes into clearer focus, I want to be direct: we anticipate an operating deficit of approximately 1.5% for the next academic year. Many institutions are facing similar headwinds but at Syracuse we are choosing to be forthright with our community. In that spirit, let me further clarify our situation.

Syracuse University’s overall financial position is stable and structurally strong. A 1.5% operating deficit is a situation this institution can and will manage. That said, we cannot assume or accept a future where annual operating deficits are the norm.

While we did not meet our enrollment targets in some schools and colleges, the 2026 new student class is one of the most academically qualified cohorts to enroll at Syracuse in recent memory. This is not a happy accident. It’s a shift in enrollment strategy. I believe our best strategy is to fully commit to academic excellence by attracting and enrolling the most talented cohort of students.

But high achieving students want and need to know, is college worth it? And, more specifically, is Syracuse University worth it?

If we want to define Syracuse University’s future on our own terms, we need to answer that question in a way that is uniquely Orange. For that reason, I’ve asked some of Syracuse University’s most distinguished and respected faculty, along with a staff member whose work centers the student experience, to form a special committee tasked with addressing two foundational questions:

• What is now—and what can be in the future—the purpose and distinctive contribution of Syracuse University for the students who enroll here, and more broadly in American higher education?
• What must change—and what must be preserved—for this institution to fully deliver on our promise to our students and their families, and to our faculty, staff, alumni and community?

This is not a routine planning exercise. I’m asking this committee to conduct an honest, rigorous and forward-looking examination of questions that are intentionally large and situated within the broader context of the current higher education environment. The committee’s recommendations must be ambitious enough to drive meaningful change and grounded enough to be implemented. Committee members will consider four interconnected domains of academic and institutional life:

• Institutional Identity: What differentiates Syracuse University in today’s higher education landscape—and how do we ensure we deliver student outcomes aligned with the expectations families assume when committing to Syracuse?
• Academic Structure, Scale and Excellence: Are Syracuse’s academic organizational structure, enrollment and R1 research ambitions well-aligned with our purpose, and where might repositioning or investment be warranted?
• Financial Model and Sustainability: How might Syracuse approach financial sustainability in an era when dependence on residential undergraduate tuition is no longer sufficient?
• Strategic Investments and Priorities: How should the University consider and evaluate opportunities to deepen its strengths in areas of expanding student demand, and in response to new technologies and the economic renaissance underway in Central New York?

This work requires a willingness to think differently and propose solutions that are disruptive and potentially unpopular. For that reason, it also requires courage. Thank you to the following individuals who have agreed to serve on this committee:

• Amber Anand (co-chair), Edward Pettinella Professor of Finance, Whitman School of Management
• Lori Brown, Distinguished Professor, School of Architecture
• Nina Iacono Brown, Associate Professor, Communications, Newhouse School of Public Communications
• Heather Coleman, Chair, University Senate Agenda Committee; Associate Professor, Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
• Kyle Dailey, Associate Vice President, Student Involvement and Engagement, Division of Student Experience
• Alex Deyhim, Kenneth and Mary Ann Shaw Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurial Leadership, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Eleanor Holdridge, Professor and Chair, Drama, College of Visual and Performing Arts
• Jennifer Karas Montez (co-chair), University Professor, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
• Nina Kohn, Board of Advisors Professor of Law and Distinguished Professor of Law, College of Law
• Jing Lei, Professor, Instructional Design Development and Evaluation, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Education
• Brice Nordquist, Associate Professor and Dean’s Professor of Community Engagement, Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, College of Arts and Sciences
• Patrick Walsh, Professor, Chair and Graduate Director, Sport Management, Falk College of Sport

The committee will deliver a written report to me by Nov. 15. The committee’s work will be conducted in coordination with—but not in lieu of—existing shared governance structures, program assessment and ongoing budget processes. The questions before the committee belong to this entire community, and I expect that committee members will create meaningful opportunities for faculty, staff and students to share their perspectives, raise concerns and offer ideas. The insights that come from that engagement should be reflected in the committee’s analysis and final report.

The work ahead is significant, and I am genuinely excited about what it will produce. It will call on all of us, faculty, staff, students, alumni and administrators, to engage honestly with hard questions and resist the pull of comfortable answers. That is not a burden. It is a rare and meaningful opportunity. The institutions that will define higher education’s next chapter are the ones willing to ask bold questions and act with conviction on what they find. I have every confidence that Syracuse University is precisely that kind of institution. The best of what we can become lies ahead.

Thank you for your commitment to this institution and to the students we serve.

Sincerely,

J. Michael Haynie
Chancellor, Syracuse University