On Tuesday, Oct. 21,a university-wide e-mail informed many that ETSU President Paul Stanton will not be retiring next March. Instead the university president, who has been in the position for 12 years, has decided to stay on through the tough economic times ahead. In a press release from the Tennessee Board of Regents,
Chancellor Dr. Charles Manning said, “Given the difficult financial circumstances the state faces, and the impact on ETSU, Dr. Stanton came to believe, at the urging of many, that the university needs stable continuity of leadership rather than a new president at this time. Governor Bredesen, chair of the TBR, Bob Thomas, vice
chair, and I all agree, and we are very pleased at Dr. Stanton’s decision. We want to issue our sincere thanks to all the presidential search committee members who have worked so hard in this process. Their service and commitment to ETSU are outstanding.” The “difficult financial circumstances” include a Nov. 1 budget reversion of 3.44 percent, or $3,239,800 to be cut from ETSU’s overall budget,
encompassing the J. H. Quillen College of Medicine and ETSU Family Practice. That reduction comes on top of a 5.8 percent reduction at the beginning of the school year on July 1. The total reversion is a 9.24 percent cut. The last time that the university faced a more than 9 percent cut, in 2003, 17 people were laid off. The
university was able to cover the more than $3 million cut through one-time reserve
funds that were saved from the budget through conservative spending.
So far the university administration has not had to cut programs or employees, but in an interview on Wednesday, Oct. 15, the 63-year-old revealed that he anticipated with future cuts, those measures may have cuts, those measures may have to be taken. “I anticipate that we will have another reversion within the next three months,” Stanton said, sitting in a rocking chair in his office. At that time, Stanton was still planning on retirement, but he said in that interview that he was “worried about leaving ETSU in this state.” “I worry about this institution because I’ve been here almost 24 years and I want it to do well,” he said. “I worry about getting through the times, I do believe we will get through them, but I worry about them.” In the Oct. 15 interview, he also said, “If I were coming here in March I think I would be very frustrated.” The declining national economy, he said, would make progress at ETSU difficult for the next few years.

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