Dear Raider Family,
Happy Friday, everyone. First, I want to thank all of our university stakeholders who have been engaged in our transformation project. The Deloitte consulting team met in person this week with focus groups composed of students, faculty, staff, academic chairs and directors, and community representatives. The initial feedback from Deloitte is extremely positive; they shared their gratitude for the thoughtful engagement by all participants and learned about the importance of the university to the region and the state. They also sensed a deep love and appreciation for the students and the university from all stakeholders.
Let me reiterate to our students that we are committed to ensuring your educational success. Our Deloitte partners heard very clearly that our campus community is dedicated to identifying a path forward for both continuing students and for those who will join us in the coming years. Be assured that this university is here for you.
The qualitative data our consultants collected from focus groups and interviews will be a lens through which they analyze financial and programmatic data. Also, our team continues to respond to requests for raw data so Deloitte can validate it. We will post that data on our website, Path to Fiscal Sustainability (https://sou.edu/president/path-to-fiscal-sustainability/), so that you can analyze everything as well. If you have concerns, or want to provide a perspective or different dataset, please make your voice heard through your shared governance partner representative. We are working with these leaders to determine a process for discussion of data moving forward.
- Faculty Senate (https://facultysenate.sou.edu/)
- Staff Assembly (https://staffassembly.sou.edu/)
- ASSOU (https://studentlife.sou.edu/assou/)
- or directly through the online Feedback Loop (https://sou.edu/president/path-to-fiscal-sustainability/), which goes directly to the members of the Deloitte team
Last night, we held a special meeting of the SOU Board of Trustees as well as a Finance and Administration Committee meeting. Our trustees are all leaning into this effort and are united – with us – in determining a path forward that will offer affordable and accessible four-year educational opportunities to our community for the long-term.
As always, I want to thank you for your patience and participation in this extremely difficult yet important process. Above all, I thank you for your heartfelt dedication to this institution we all love. I wish you all a WONDERFUL and very well-deserved Spring Break. Thanks again, everyone.
Very respectfully,
