This story has been updated with more information from Provost Tim Marshall.
Administrators are thinking about merging The New School with another university to help boost university finances, which are “dire” right now, according to minutes from a University Faculty Senate meeting on March 7.
Charles Allison, co-chair of the faculty senate, asked Provost Tim Marshall about “alternative revenue ideas,” according to the notes.
Marshall said “the idea of merging with another university could be a possibility,” but added that nothing is set in stone.
He later provided this statement to The New School Free Press, “The University is in a strong financial position, but we are always looking at the impact that rising costs will have on students. We are often approached by other institutions interested in partnering, and are open to such conversations.The integration of both Parsons and Mannes into the university began out of such conversations, and they have strengthened the university. The success we have had incorporating these schools is why others regularly approach us. The university would rely on extremely thorough due diligence if we were to go down this path so as to ensure that the relationship made sense for The New School, and the partner institution.”
A faculty member, who serves on the senate’s budget committee, but didn’t attend the March meeting, relayed to Adria Benjamin, the other co-chair, that “the issues that the budget committee were discussing were dire,” according to the minutes.
AAS programs that have historically brought in a lot of revenue are in steep decline, according to the minutes.
Parsons Paris is currently running at a deficit, but should be profitable within the next two years, according to the minutes.
Faculty asked about enrollment expectations and Marshall said administrators are “still nervous about what the future holds.”
However, deposits for next semester have not come in yet and the university will not know enrollment numbers until the Fall 2017 semester starts, according to the meeting notes.
Photo by Julia Himmel.