Ivelaw Griffith, president of Fort Valley State University in Georgia, announced a plan of action for dealing with declining enrollments and resulting financial pressures on the historically Black educational institution. In 2011, there were 3,896 students enrolled at Fort Valley State University. This fall, the university announced there are 2,400 students on campus. That is a decline of 38 percent over a three-year period.
The decline in enrollments has produced an anticipated $7.1 million budget shortfall. President Griffith announced that the jobs of 14 staff members would be eliminated and 11 other positions that are currently vacant will not be filled. He also announced energy savings initiatives, changes in degree programs, and renewed marketing efforts to attract new students.
President Griffith stated that “it is critical that we as an institution face our problems and fix them. Our university’s challenges have not been met head-on over the years, but we can ill afford to continue doing so.” He then quoted James Baldwin by saying “‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Below is a video showing President Griffith discussing his plan to deal with the situation.
