Counterpoint: Toward a financially sustainable University of Minnesota

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In a recent commentary, leaders of the faculty and civil service at the University of Minnesota took aim at the Legislature for failing to provide more financial support (“Collective bargaining at the U: Legislature should put money where its mouth is,” April 3). They missed the mark, however, when they justified the costs of administration on the basis that the costs are comparable to those at other large universities.

This comparison, which is the same justification used by the university administration, is not a saving grace. With few exceptions, no one has been watching the store anywhere in higher education until recently (“Administrative Bloat at U.S. Colleges is Skyrocketing,” Forbes magazine, Aug. 28, 2023).

Now the U administration reacts by changing its definition of administrative costs — a maneuver that obscures the fact that those costs now exceed $1 billion each year (“Administrative costs: Does this seem like sleight of hand?” Aug. 25, 2023).

In a separate commentary, the leaders of the Board of Regents also make the Legislature their target because state appropriations now cover only 17% of the operating expenses of the university (“Why we, as regents, approved the U’s funding request,” April 12). This percentage decline is due, in part, to the soaring operating expenses from $1.8 billion in 2000 to $2.9 billion in 2010 to $4.4 billion in 2024. (See the annual financial reports of the university at controller.umn.edu/annual-reports.)

In terms of actual dollars, the higher education bill approved by the Legislature in May 2023 provided a record $1.5 billion in appropriations for the university for the current biennium, including $1.3 billion in general appropriations (“Higher education agreement features big funding bumps,” Session Daily, May 9, 2023).

General appropriations and tuition are unrestricted funds that the university administration may spend however it chooses. The fiscal problems of the university should not be attributed solely to a lack of funds. The allocation of funds by the university administration is a significant factor. A more equitable allocation would increase the compensation of faculty and staff (“New president’s compensation spotlights inequities at U,” March 14).

This is also a factor in the crumbling academic infrastructure at the university. As the regents acknowledge in their commentary, more than one-quarter of all university buildings (8.9 million square feet) are now rated in poor or critical condition by the university administration. The costs of maintenance and restoration of existing facilities are projected to be a staggering $6 billion over the next 10 years.

The academic health facilities rated in critical condition by the university administration include the Moos Tower, the Phillips-Wangensteen Building, Weaver-Densford Hall, the Mayo Building and the Variety Club Research Center. The biomedical library (Diehl Hall) is rated in poor condition.

This continuing failure to perform the basic task of maintaining academic health infrastructure does not inspire confidence that a hospital owned and operated by the university administration would fare any better.

This is the consequence of the decadeslong failure of the administration to allocate sufficient funds for the maintenance of academic facilities. When the senior administrators did not obtain authorization from the Legislature for the amount of Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement bonds requested for repair and replacement, they should have made adjustments to the budget to allocate other revenues sufficient to keep up with the necessary maintenance. They did not do so.

Now the university administration will need to spend a far greater percentage of the budget on academic infrastructure and far less on administration. Otherwise, we will see more structural failures, such as the partial collapse of the roof of Northrop Auditorium (“Part of Northrop auditorium’s roof collapses,” Jan. 13, 2023).