Fisk Racing to Meet December Deadline

By Reginald Stuart

Fisk University, racing the clock to regain an unqualified seal of approval from its major higher education accrediting agency by a December deadline, is focused and on track to meet that goal, says the historic institution’s new president.

“Everything hinges on SACS (Fisk University, racing the clock to regain an unqualified seal of approval from its major higher education accrediting agency by a December deadline, is focused and on track to meet that goal, says the historic institution’s new president.),” said Fisk President Dr. H. James Williams, referring to the Atlanta-based higher education accrediting agency. “Things are okay,” Williams said in a recent interview reflecting on his first six months on the job. “We’’re making progress in addressing the SACS issues.”

SACS is the major accrediting agency for nearly all institutions of higher education in the South including Fisk, Vanderbilt and Tennessee State universities. The agency sets uniform standards for measuring the merits of an institution from a variety of perspectives. They range from academic standards to financial viability to campus safety to governance, to name a few.

While fully accredited and its academic offerings never called into question, Fisk was placed on probation nearly two years ago by SACS for a variety of other reasons including concerns about its long-term financial viability, the quality of its administration and its management.

The university must fully respond to all the SACS concerns by December. Failing to win a clean bill of health on the probation issues could further jeopardize the university’’s standing and its ability to received funds from the federal government and some private organizations that use SACS ratings as a guide for funding.

Williams said the university cleared the “first hurdle” this summer when it closed its books June 30 on its most recent fiscal year (2013) with a positive financial standing. Fisk was able to finish the year “in the black,” he said, due to a boost in financial aid for the university, including alumni and several new supporters, one of whom gave the institution a $1 million unrestricted cash
gift.

Finishing the year above water wasn’’t easy, Williams added, even with the added outside support. Soon after he took on his new job, he put nearly all the university’s employees on unpaid furloughs, cut the already pared university budget and cut salaries across the board by 1.6 percent for all but senior level staffers.

Senior level staffers were asked to take a 12 percent pay cut between last March and June, Williams said. Williams noted he was no exception to the slashing, having gotten one full paycheck after he started work then being included in the 12 percent pay cut.

The internal cuts were complemented by the university’s ability to raise some $6.1 million in the final months of the recent school year. Of that amount, $5.1 million was in unrestricted funds, Williams said.

That unrestricted money gave Fisk the flexibility it needs today to address a number of pressing issues, including boosting financial aid to many students whose college plans have been derailed by the U.S. Department of Education which dramatically changed its lending criteria. The new Parent PLUS loan (PPL) criteria, imposed last year, have resulted in many parents being able to borrow
funds to support their children’s tuition costs.

“It’s been a major hit for sure,” said Williams, noting many Fisk students rely on a combination of grants and loans to pay their way through college. More than 80 percent of the students at Fisk, a tuition-dependent institution, require such aide to attend and graduate from college.

On the topic of enrollment, Williams said the PPL situation, which has hammered enrollment at a number of institutions across the country, especially historically Black colleges, is expected to have a negative impact of Fisk’s final numbers for this fall.

By late spring, with some 3,000 applicants, Williams said he and his enrollment staff felt confident in being able to boost fall enrollment significantly above the 700 level compared to 610 students enrolled in the fall of 2012. Given the
PPL loan denials and other considerations, Williams said Fisk now hopes to enroll about 680 students.

Williams said he and his staff have built a lot of “flexibility” into the university’’s budget for the coming year, a posture that will allow the institution to deal with the anticipated revenue shortfalls stemming from developments like the PPL loan denials to parents of current and prospective students and the impact of the five percent across the board cut in federal budget spending, commonly referred to as “sequestration.” Fisk expects to feel a little pain from that action, although far less than some peer institutions, Williams said.

Meanwhile, the focus is on SACS, Williams said, ticking off a short list of hurdles still to be cleared.

Williams, whose depth of knowledge and experience in the fields of finance, accounting, management and academic, were major lures to Fisk trustees in choosing him as its new chief, said the university is waiting for its audit report. It is preparing for a SACS committee site visit this fall. He is also organizing the team that will represent the university in December at the winter meeting of the SACS Commission on Colleges. That body will decide whether Fisk comes off probation, based on its work under new leadership, or more punitive actions will be taken against the university.

“It’s all about finances,” said Williams, noting he has added three people on the business side of university operations and “shored up” human resources. He said while he has “had to insist on a number of changes” in business side operations, he has not “micro managed” the financial overhaul of Fisk’s operations. “I’I’ve respected the leadership roles of the people I have in place,” he said. “I have been consultative.”

Appointing a Provost, usually the second in command at a university and the daily operations chief, has been put on hold until the SACS issues are resolved, he said.

Williams said he has spent about 50 percent of his first six months focusing on getting Fisk’s SACS issues addressed. Still, he said, he has been busy meeting the city, making contacts and spreading his message that Fisk wants to be considered a meaningful player in metropolitan Nashville. He has had several audiences in that regard, he said, noting that a surprising number of encounters
were with people who only knew Fisk, if at all, based on its financial troubles.

People were surprised to hear of Fisk’s national stature as a leader in several academic rankings, he said, adding a recent Forbe’s magazine honor to his list.

Citing the academic standing of Fisk “gave me a chance to brag a little bit and have some third part confirmation about the academic excellence associated with Fisk around the nation,” he said, referring to the Forbes report and others.

Like his new counterpart at Tennessee State University, President Glenda Glover, Williams said he has been getting welcomes from medical and church groups, Greek letter organizations, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs and others.

“’I’ve been surprised in a positive way about how open and welcome the community has been,” said Williams, a North Carolina native who came to Nashville from Grand Valley State University, in Michigan. There, he was Dean of the Seidman College of Business. “Nashville is vibrant, progressive and forward-looking,” he said.