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Education: Crash Course in Finance- Northeast- June 2004
Trustees blamed Harlow's departure on poor money management that, while not entirely the president's fault, came to a head on his watch. Investment losses and a fund-raising gaffe exposed questionable budgeting practices that left the school awash in red ink.
When Harlow went public with JU's troubles last year (and proposed an across-the-board 4% budget cut), the faculty revolted. Professors first fired off a vote of no confidence at Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wiley (who resigned) and then took aim at Harlow.
Board members decided Harlow could not impose the financial discipline JU needed. Catherine Morgan, an assistant to the president and a former tenured business professor, was promoted to acting president. With the faculty's blessing, Morgan quickly moved to close a projected $4-million budget gap.
The school also recently announced plans for an alliance with Nova Southeastern University that will have Nova running a graduate program and leasing space at JU's campus, providing JU with much-needed revenue.
"We have the opportunity today to refocus and redefine Jacksonville University," Morgan told faculty shortly after her appointment. "There are no knights in shining armor."
Tucked along a bucolic stretch of the St. Johns River in suburban Arlington, the private university seemed resigned for most of its 70 years to its niche as a sunny destination for underachieving Northerners. Then in the face of falling enrollment in the mid-'90s, it set out to improve both its academics and its community ties. It started new programs, and decaying facilities were restored at considerable expense. It also raised faculty salaries by 17%. The effort paid off in increased enrollment (up 8% since 2000) and an enhanced academic reputation.
Few realized, however, that the growth in tuition wasn't covering mounting expenses. Director of Public Affairs John Daigle says administrators were routinely filling budget gaps with money from JU's endowment, a surplus revenue fund and by counting donations before they had been banked.
When the questionable practices came to light, the board ordered Harlow to stop dipping into the shrinking endowment. The issue reached an embarrassing climax when Harlow laid some of the blame on an unnamed donor who had reneged on most of a $1-million pledge.
Daigle says Morgan is following through on the board's charge to put the school's finances in order before Harlow's permanent replacement arrives this summer.
Morgan has "a dirty job," says Daigle, "but she has the confidence of the board and the faculty to get it done."
IN THE NEWS
Alachua County -- The County Commission approved a comp-plan change to accommodate a 15-acre residential/commercial development at Tower Road and SW 24th Avenue. Developers say the "new urbanist" mix would encourage people to walk between homes and shops. The state still must sign off on the change.
Clay County -- Fort Worth, Texas-based AmeriCredit will close its office in the Fleming Island Plantation business park, costing 225 employees their jobs. The office opened in 2001 with the help of county incentives.
County planners gave initial approval to a 980-home development in the rural Lake Asbury area. The Bradley Creek Planned Unit Development includes an 18-hole golf course, two parks, an elementary school and ballfields.
Green Cove Springs -- An Orange Park developer plans to build waterfront condominiums on the site of the old J-M Manufacturing Co. pipe making plant. The company was one of Clay County's largest employers before the plant closed in 2000.
Jacksonville -- Winn-Dixie (NYSE-WIN) plans to cut 10,000 jobs, close 45 stores and sell 111 others. The grocery chain also plans to close or sell three distribution centers -- one in Sarasota and two out of state -- and several manufacturing businesses, including Dixie Packers, Crackin' Good Bakery/Snacks and Montgomery Pizza manufacturing operations. It also will consolidate its Greenville Ice Cream and Miami Dairy operations into its other dairies. The job cuts represent 10% of Winn-Dixie's workforce.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority must raise an additional $30 million to complete the final stretch of the much-delayed Wonderwood Connector. The price of the expressway linking Mayport and Arlington has risen 26% to $144 million.
The safety and reliability of railroad crossings in New York owned by CSX Transportation is the subject of an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The review follows several accidents involving CSX-owned crossings, including the deaths of an elderly Rochester couple who drove into the path of a speeding CSX freight train when crossing gates failed.
The City Council cleared way for construction of a Super Target and a Wal-Mart Supercenter at the intersection of Beach and Hodges boulevards. The council also approved a $20-million overpass for the nearby intersection of Beach and Kernan boulevards.
A compromise will allow the Ortega River Boat Yard and a new 75-unit luxury condominium complex to share the same riverfront parcel. Original plans called for the popular boat repair facility to be torn down.
Mayport -- The Navy plans to keep the USS John F. Kennedy docked at Mayport Naval Station until 2018, when the aircraft carrier will be decommissioned. In a report submitted to Congress, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England urged that Mayport remain one of the Navy's two permanent aircraft carrier ports on the East Coast.
Nassau County -- Nassau County commissioners are considering a 5-cent increase to the local option gas tax to pay for new roads.
Ponte Vedra Beach -- The St. Johns County School Board rejected a controversial proposal to build a high school in the Guana River Wildlife Management Area. Instead, a Ponte Vedra school will likely be built on a smaller site off of S.R. A1A.
St. Johns County -- St. Augustine Police Chief David Shoar and former State Attorney's Office investigator Glenn Lightsey are the leading candidates to replace Sheriff Neil Perry, who is retiring.
Washington, D.C.-based Citizens Against Government Waste gave one of its 14 Oinker Awards to The First Tee, a golf and "life-skills education" program headquartered at the World Golf Village. The advocacy group criticized Congress for awarding First Tee $3 million in grants.
