Dive Brief:
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is vowing financial reform for the City University of New York after the resignation of former President Lisa Coico, identified in a state inspector's general report as a central figure in a campus culture described as "ripe for abuse."
- Along with a promised review of the university's entire administrative team, observers believe the scandal gives Cuomo the leverage he needs to create more centralized operations between CUNY and the State University of New York, to save money on higher education spending in the state's new budget.
- Some point to Cuomo's most recent board appointees as a sign of his increasingly active engagement in fiscal and administrative affairs at the school.
Dive Insight:
By the nature of the city and its media market, CUNY is going to receive national coverage for issues faced by colleges and public university systems throughout the country. Hundreds of peer institutions face new questions about costs and administrative spending, and all are being held to account for the perceived lack of streamlined cost-saving efforts.
But in regions with renewed interest in workforce development and industrial value, there will remain a constant need for good higher education to meet the work and revenue needs of that city or state. And this means that legislators must walk a fine line between budget cutting and maintaining academic quality; which can only come from close engagement between school executives and high-caliber research production.