An editorial from The Register-Herald
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Perhaps only the eternally optimistic Dr. E. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University, could look at a $45 million budget cut and see “an opportunity.”
But such was the case Monday at his State of the University address in Morgantown.
The challenge that Gee is facing is a lagging state economy that has erased his base budget by $30 million in recent years. Gee is looking to make amends – actually, overachieving, it seems – by 2020.
In the state’s current fiscal year, revenues are running $81 million below projections. If that underperformance continues, it’s difficult imaging education – both K-12 and higher ed – escaping the coming legislative session without sharing in some pain.
We won’t be surprised if legislators take up difficult discussions after the turn of the year about closing some smaller state schools while persuading others to become private institutions of higher learning.
Already, WVU has become a state-located university, drawing only 14 percent of its budget from the state.
How low is that? Thirty years ago, the state was handling upwards of 70 percent of the load.
“I have tried the strategy ‘woe is me’ and let me tell you it does not work,” Gee said in his address. “What does work is accepting only one goal – to improve quality.”
Gee’s strategy? Get ahead of the curve and affect change now.
“Change is not just a word it is an action. It is indeed the heartbeat of this institution,” Gee said. “I realize this more than you can imagine that change can be challenging but let me make this clear the change that we seek is necessary.
“Higher education is going through a massive transformation. Some institutions will survive, some will not,” Gee said. “And we have a choice: We can be at the forefront leading the change, we can be the architects of our own success, or we can be left behind.”
But just as important is to have a vision of what that change will look like in the years ahead.
Clearly, Gee’s primary mission is to provide world-class academic rigor and results in Morgantown. By various measures, Gee and the university are delivering with academic quality on the incline.
A fail-safe budgetary backup is also a comforting thought. And on that, the WVU Foundation’s “A State of Minds” campaign has busted through its goal of $1 billion.
So, yes, while we would prefer the state find a way to more fully fund our state universities, we know – as does Gee – that is not happening any time soon.
Thankfully, Dr. Gee is in our corner.
