President Todd Diacon announced reductions to the university’s budget during remarks at the faculty senate meeting Monday, as part of a plan to avoid going over the budget.

“We are not doing more with less,” he said. “We will have to do things differently.”

Diacon said the university will have to reduce expenditures by $17 million for the 2025 fiscal year. He noted future reductions such as $7.8 million in 2026, $17.3 million in 2027, and $26 million in 2028. 

Expenditures for the 2024 fiscal year have already been decreased by $18.4 million, as announced by Diacon in his October edition of the online session “Talking with Todd.”

Diacon reported the DeWeese Health Center’s revenue does not equal its expenditure, with nearly $2.3 million being lost in expenditures.

To help accommodate, the Kent State Athletics will take a $1.3 million budget cut.

“Every year, save for 2017, we’ve had to make cuts to balance the budget,” Diacon said.

Diacon said the university is in a poor position financially, citing other universities such as Penn State which is deeply over budget.

Currently, the 2024 fiscal year budget is $687.5 million.

Aside from budget concerns, the faculty senate approved four new majors and a revision to private lessons within the School of Music for the Fall 2024 semester.

The four majors approved are a bachelor of science degree in applied media, and journalism as a master of arts degree at The College of Communication and Information. While the College of Public Health added Biostatistics and Epidemiology as a master of public health degree.

The faculty senate also approved a revision to private lessons within the school of music, allowing it to become a one-credit hour course.

During the meeting, Provost Melody Tankersly and Vice President for Regional Campuses Peggy Shadduck presented a plan to restructure the regional campus system with the intent of standardizing their operations while still serving the needs of their local communities.

This would include reducing the number of deans on regional campuses from six deans to four. A regional campus staff would then include four deans, four assistant deans, two support staff, one lead scheduler and two scheduling support staff.

Shadduck and Tankersly said this change would save the university $815,000 per year.

Chair Tracy Laux remarked that the budget challenges the university faces and are nobody’s fault.

“Don’t cut ourselves to prosperity,” he said. 

The next faculty senate meeting is scheduled for March 11 in the Student Governance Chamber in the Student Center.

Michael Neenan is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].