California Univ. faces $5.4 million budget shortfall

CALIFORNIA – California University of Pennsylvania is facing a $5.4 million deficit in the budget for this academic year, and it will take steps to reduce spending, its interim president said Wednesday.
The university will cut travel expenses, leave some vacant positions unfilled and make up the shortfall with money in a reserve account, Cal U. Interim President Geraldine M. Jones said at a university trustees meeting.
“I remain optimistic about our future,” Jones said, adding that many questions about revenues remained uncertain with the state budget impasse in Harrisburg.
The university, which had nearly 8,000 students last year, is experiencing a 1.5 percent enrollment decrease this term over the 2014-15 term, Jones said. She said there are 124 fewer students on campus as compared to the previous term.
“This is a smaller decline than in the past two years,” she said.
In other business Wednesday, the trustees appointed an 11-member committee to search for a new president in a process that could take a year to hire someone for the position.
“This is the first step,” Cal U. spokeswoman Christine Kindl said. “It’s an elaborate process.”
Kindl said a job description for the position will be posted, that it’s too early to say who will apply for the office.
“It’s about time,” Cal U. history professor Craig Smith said during the public comment period of the trustees’ meeting.
Jones, who has indicated she wants the job, has been serving in the president’s office since the state System of Higher Education fired Angelo Armenti Jr. in May 2012.
The committee includes three trustees, the dean of the college of liberal arts, two faculty members, the school’s faculty union president, the Cal U. police chief, a member of student government and the president of the alumni association board.