In recent months we have all seen what a miserable job AU has done managing finances, or so it would seem to those watching from the outside. Former President Ladner's scandal was only one of the university's missteps when it comes to finances.
In the last school year, the athletic department unceremoniously cut the tennis and golf teams, as the school claimed it needed to save the money and find wiser ways to spend. Students left AU for the summer with fewer athletic teams, and came back for the fall only to see their president go down under a cloud of suspicion.
Faculty members complain their salaries are too low. Even more sports scholarships have been cut- including all the available scholarships for the swimming and diving teams. Park Bethesda shuttle service is so scarce it's debilitating.
Something must be going right if we are able to open new facilities like the Katzen, but it's hard to relish in that glory with so many other missteps.
The problems that festers on the surface must start far below what any of us can see on the inside. There are severe conflicts within the board of trustees, the body that has a strong hand in guiding the university, even if not directly, and only the trustees know what goes on in their meetings. It is frightening to see only the top layer of these problems, as it would seem they run much deeper.
