By John Burton
MIDDLETOWN – There can be a way to mitigate some of the proposed extensive cuts and layoffs at Brookdale Community College, said Freeholder John P. Curley, who has had an admittedly strained relationship with the school.
“All of the aspects of the college, they need to be gone over, step by step by step,” including raising tuition and overhauling programs to appeal to the needs of future students, this week said Curley, who serves as liaison between the freeholder board and the college’s board of trustees.
The board of trustees is scheduled to meet Thursday evening, after press time, on the Lincroft campus where members could be casting votes on a plan that would result in a net reduction of 51 employees and the elimination of a total of 210 positions, according to information provided by the school. On top of that, school officials are considering shuttering the campus’s fitness center and doing away with its childcare center, where students while attending classes can get daycare for their children for a traditionally reasonable rate.
School officials maintain the cuts and other changes and reorganization are needed to address a continuing budget deficit caused by decreasing enrollment and cuts in state and county funding.
College operating revenues have declined by nearly $14.7 million since fiscal year 2011, including a $5.7 million decline in tuition. During the same period state and county funding to the college dropped by $9.4 million, requiring Brookdale to draw on budget reserves to make up the shortfall, according to a statement issued by Maureen Murphy, the college president.
Murphy, however, wasn’t available for comment earlier this week, according to the Office of College Relations.
Curley as the liaison has been critical of the school’s past performance, in dealing with former president Peter Burnham who was recently released from prison for abusing his school-issued expense accounts, dealing with Burnham’s fallout and other financial matters. Curley said college officials were “not giving me any information” prior to sending out reduction in force (RIF) notices to about 200 employees, which told the workers their jobs could be eliminated. The freeholder accused the board of trustees of causing an unnecessary “panic” among employees and students.
“All of a sudden my phone was ringing off the hook,” both at his office and home, from those concerned about the situation, Curley said, with most calls commenting about the popular fitness center.
Some college employees have alleged the county funding cuts were in retaliation for the Burnham situation.
“Look,” Curley said, “when there is a public demand for something and if you are in the public arena you find ways of making it function.”
“There are ways to cut,” he stressed and proceeded to layout what college officials should be doing to curtail costs and increase enrollment.
The board of trustees should look at every department first and “decide if something is worthwhile or not,” he said. Following that, there should be a modest increase in tuition and an increase in fees for such services as the fitness center and childcare; a greater emphasis on marketing the school to not only county residents but for those in other areas of the state.
And that means, “They need to formulate programs that people are going to want to take, that are of interest to the general public.”
Following that there must be a concentration on shared services, he said, with the county’s public works department and possibly using the Sheriff’s Department or even township police for campus security. “They’ve been discussed, or at least mentioned,” Curley noted, “but there hasn’t been any action taken.”
“You find ways to make things work,” he believed.
In the end, Curley suspected there will be some give and take, given the public response, but the school needs to better manage its finances, he said charging the college administration was attempting to blame the freeholders.
Finger pointing aside, “The mood around campus is of anxiety and gloom,” said a learning assistant who’s job my be cut.
The assistant, who asked not to be identified, said that department has been disproportionately and unfairly targeted for the cut, unfair to the employees and especially to the students, the assistant stressed.
“Students don’t see the president or administrators every day; they see learning assistants every day,” the assistant said
“We’re a vital part of their education,” helping students to handle college level work here and after, the assistant said.
