Although he does not start serving as the new president of the Connecticut System of Colleges and Universities until July 2, Terrence Cheng is ”” not surprisingly ”” already hard at work.
“The challenge is to prove that we”™re all on the same team,” he told the Business Journal. “I hope to turn the temperature down a little bit.”
Born in Taiwan, the 49-year-old Cheng ”” now wrapping a 5½-year stint as director of UConn”™s Stamford campus ”” was announced as the new CSCU head on May 7. While he is taking over for interim president Jane Gates, it is the shadow of Mark Ojakian ”” who officially retired on Jan. 1 ”” that is felt most keenly.
Ojakian was the author of “Students First,” the CSCU plan to consolidate its 12 community colleges (including Housatonic in Bridgeport and Norwalk) into one centrally managed system by 2023. Ojakian said the move would save CSCU $17 million to $23 million per year. But a number of faculty and student groups have repeatedly ”” and loudly ”” objected to how the plan is being implemented, fearing for jobs and the quality of education.
The consolidation is proceeding, Cheng said. “There are many positives and benefits in that merger plan, but there”™s still more work to be done. We have to fine-tune and sharpen what we”™re doing in certain areas.”
That work includes communicating with all stakeholders, he said.
“Whenever a leader comes in they often speak of doing a listening tour,” Cheng said. “Of course that”™s necessary, but I want to do more than that. I plan to go to every campus and meet with the leaders, the community, the elected officials, the students and the faculty and have a dialog with them ”” not only about my ideas, but I want to hear what their ideas are.
“I think the CSCU faculty are wonderful,” he continued. “So many of them have reached out to me already and been enthusiastic, warm and welcoming. And to be honest, some have been very vocal in their opposition to the merger, as well as what”™s going on with the union negotiations. But even though they may not be particularly happy with the situation, they”™ve said they”™re really happy that I”™m coming into this role.”
Those negotiations, between the CSCU Board of Regents and the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors (CSU-AAUP), revolve around a host of issues and have included name-calling by both sides.
The Board of Regents”™ contract proposal to the union, which has not been made public, reportedly includes adding to professors”™ caseloads and class sizes while cutting the number of counselors and other avenues of student support.
Union President Patty O”™Neill called the proposal “draconian” in December, while one report said that state officials had accused the union of “whin(ing) publicly.”
The merger and the negotiations are “hard work, and definitely make people uncomfortable,” Cheng said. “But I”™m very positive that when all is said and done, we”™ll come together and be in a good position.”
Another CSCU pain point, he said, is the system”™s declining enrollment. About 30,000 students enrolled at the four state schools, which include WestConn in Danbury ”” a roughly 32% decline from pre-Covid levels.
But Cheng dismissed the pandemic”™s effect. “Enrollment has been declining for the past 10-plus years,” he said. “Our metrics have been poor, to be blunt, since before Covid, so we can”™t say everything is because of the pandemic. It”™s much larger than that.”
Again, he expressed confidence that detailed conversations with stakeholders can help turn that trend around. “Are we doing right by our students?” he asked. “If not, then we need to do things better or at least differently.”
One of those things is a greater focus on workforce development ”” long a topic of discussion, Cheng said, but very much in need of action.
“We have to come up with an appropriate value proposition, and workforce development is at the top of the list,” he said. “We have to create a scenario where we don”™t just give students help in the classroom, but also in their search for jobs.”
Cheng said tuition hikes would not be the way to pay for such improvements.
“We need to do everything we can to not increase tuition,” he said. “That just hurts the students and is completely against what we are trying to do.”
Cheng declined to provide additional details, saying that he was still doing research about CSCU and the challenges it faces.
Still, the system has a number of strengths, he said. “That we have such a system in place, first and foremost, is huge and speaks to the fact that we take education so seriously and invest in these campuses at the state level.”
In addition to the dozen community colleges and four state schools, CSCU also represents the online Charter Oak State College.
“It”™s the ”˜location, location, location”™ thing,” Cheng added. “We have 16 campuses around the state, in all locations.” He again expressed admiration for the schools”™ faculty and administrators.
“I think I have a lot of learning to do,” he said. “And there”™s a lot of work to be done in a lot of areas. But I do think we are in a good position and, by working together, we can get to where we need to be.”
