Bemidji State stakeholders express frustration over budget, shared governance
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May 7—BEMIDJI — The financial picture of
Bemidji State University
has garnered some negative attention in the past couple of years.
Among revenue loss fueled by decreased overall enrollment since 2017, efforts to balance its budget and address an ongoing budget deficit have been continual.
Among a series of layoffs and reductions —
the most recent of which will affect 14 faculty members and reduce certain programs
by the end of this academic year — decisions have been met with frustration by campus stakeholders regarding not only the cuts, but the process itself.
As of early April, BSU's Student Senate began discussion about a potential "Vote of No Confidence" in campus administration, particularly BSU and Northwest Technical College President John Hoffman, over concerns on shared governance and the value of student voice in decisions, including but not limited to the budget.
During an April 2 presentation at BSU's annual Student Achievement Conference, Student Senate President and senior Darby Bersie detailed his experiences within the recognized voice of the student body.
Currently composed of 26 elected student leaders, each member represents approximately 157 students. The group aims to advocate, legislate and engage with university leadership on issues concerning the student body.
"One of our key mechanisms for communication with university leadership is our cabinet-to-cabinet meetings. This is where the Student Senate executive cabinet meets with President Hoffman's executive cabinet," Bersie said. "These meetings serve as a structured counterpart to collective bargaining, offering space for negotiation, concern and collaboration.
"But under President Hoffman, these meetings have become a space not for dialogue, but for deflection. Instead of collaboration, we get cold indifference. It is a space where student energy and intellect are constantly met with the dull thud of executive disinterest."
Bersie noted that shared governance has not been practiced in good faith throughout his three-year tenure at BSU.
"The university frequently refers to its commitment to collaboration and inclusion, but when decisions are actually being made, student participation is too often obstructed or outright denied," he said, "and that begins at the top."
Bersie provided a first example, claiming that out of six executive cabinet searches since spring 2023 at BSU, five were conducted without any student representation.
"This wasn't due to a lack of student interest or engagement, but it was due to a total failure on President Hoffman's part to ensure that students even had a chance to participate," Bersie said. "I reached out and asked to meet with the candidates for the most recent provost search that happened this past spring — arguably the second most important position at this university.
"But Hoffman said, 'No.' His justification was that academics don't really relate to students in the same way that student affairs does."
Bersie claimed that he was eventually allowed to meet with provost candidates, albeit via Zoom and weeks after in-person campus visits.
"Every single one of these candidates, without exception, told me the same thing," he added. "It was bizarre that they hadn't met with any students during their official interviews."
Bersie also took issue with transparency, specifically upon the release of the university's athletic plan that outlines a long-term financial and strategic commitment to BSU athletics.
"This is a decision with enormous implications for the future direction of student resources and priorities, and he shared it with exactly one student: me," he said. "That document should have been shared with every student on this campus, but instead, it was handed in privately with the expectation that I would be distributing it on his behalf."
Among other developments, the Student Senate decided that a "Vote of No Confidence" discussion would be timely and serve as a means of accountability.
"This is not symbolic, it is not an emotional outburst or publicity stunt. It's a calculated, deliberate act born out of exhaustion, injustice and years of witnessing leadership that has failed to lead," Bersie said. "We are doing this not out of malice, but we are doing this because we have been forced to, because we have never been heard until we threatened to speak louder."
A major sticking point across campus revolved around reactions to a report released by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), which laid out a series of financial recommendations.
Campus administration enlisted NACUBO
to complete a series of interviews and focus groups across campus before compiling its findings, which were released to faculty and staff in early February.
Hoffman noted NACUBO's purely financial focus following the report's release and that it didn't take into account other factors or benefits of certain programs.
He further emphasized this point given NACUBO's recommendation to either eliminate or "rightsize" the music department and hockey program, considering those "nonstarters."
"I am fully committed to the future of music and fully committed to the future of hockey in Bemidji," Hoffman said in February. "We have some work to do to enhance the value proposition of those programs."
Bersie noted concerns over shared governance given Hoffman's statements regarding the NACUBO report, adding, "I found it silly that there were essentially nonstarters, things that BSU wouldn't even consider. To already state that you're not going to do something, that's not shared governance."
Another point of contention for certain campus stakeholders included severe reductions of the philosophy program, a NACUBO recommendation that BSU was already planning to implement since the start of the 2024-2025 academic year.
"The elimination of philosophy is absurd, not just because it's a core discipline of the humanities," an anonymous source stated. "If we're going to be the comprehensive four-year university for this region, you can not erode the liberal arts as we have been."
Low enrollment was credited for the decision to reduce the philosophy program. Despite this reason, stakeholders have noted philosophy as being a profitable program.
The 2024 fiscal year showed a 97.4% expense as a percentage of revenue, given that expenses clocked in at $241,353 and tuition revenue brought in $247,676. This profit even came about in a set of circumstances where the department employed three professors instead of two, with one placed on sabbatical and another hired on a temporary basis.
Amidst considerable discussion on budget reductions, the start of the 2024-2025 academic year provided a positive development as BSU experienced its first overall enrollment increase since 2017 at 3% from the previous year, as well as an 11% increase in new student enrollment.
Despite a rebound in enrollment, administration would still be tasked with addressing a $3 million deficit and a round of cuts was announced concurrently.
Following this announcement, Hoffman said that these cuts, taking effect by the end of this academic year, will restore faculty-student ratios from 2018.
"With fewer students, our class sizes are currently 10% smaller than they were in 2018," he said, "and our spending per student on instruction is $2,000 more than it was in 2018."
The Bemidji State University Faculty Association (BSUFA) issued a response to administration in August 2024 regarding the reductions, which read, "The BSUFA finds the proposed budget and resulting faculty reduction decisions unacceptable and irresponsible on the part of the administration.
"We can not have confidence in any leadership decision and direction that fails to: one, produce a holistic budget proposal that directly prioritizes the University's mission, vision and values. Two, address long-term, structural budgetary concerns. And three, result in a balanced budget for FY25 and beyond."
The letter details that in fiscal year 2018, instruction made up 40.6% of BSU's expenditures and was projected to decrease to 36.7% for fiscal year 2025.
"This proposal reduces instructional spending to such low levels that BSU's leaders can not seriously claim that education is our primary mission," the letter continues. "This community and its legislative leaders can, and should, question the leadership of an educational institution that only spends a third of its money on education."
The letter also pointed to increased costs associated with facilities, administration and athletics. Facilities costs rose from $6.7 million or 11.7% of costs in 2018 to $8.3 million or 12.9% of costs in 2025.
Administrative costs rose from $8.7 million — 15.2% of costs in 2018 — to $10.7 million, or 16.6% of costs projected for 2025. Athletics saw a rise in cost from $4.4 million — 7.7% of costs in 2018 — to roughly $7 million, or 10.8% of costs for 2025.
"In athletics, the cost trend is unsustainable as admitted by administration," the letter states.
As the end of the 2024-2025 academic year approaches, Jeremiah Liend, a member of BSU's chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, expressed frustration and sadness for students whose programs are being cut, drawing parallels to his own experience when BSU eliminated its theater program.
"I know for myself and all the students that were in that program, having to uproot their lives, many of them went to Mankato State because they had a very similar lateral program," Liend mentioned. "To move 250 miles away to be able to finish your degree is a real hardship for people."
Accounts and Collections Specialist Shannon Schmitt shared similar sentiments as well as concerns for funding moving into the future.
"I don't have a magic ball. I wish I did, or a huge donor somewhere," Schmitt said. "We have some great programs at BSU. The TAD Department, the music department, psychology, wildlife biology. There are many, many programs at BSU that are highly successful and needed in this area, and I would be sad to see it all go away."
Schmitt also questioned the administration's priorities when making fiscal decisions.
"The general budget can not sustain athletics on its own and keep people employed. It just can't. Student athletes are important to our campus, but there has to be a balance," she added. "What are we here at BSU for? Are we here for education or are we here for athletics? The education piece needs to take priority over anything else."
"The whole point of co-governance is if you don't have perspectives from the students, staff and faculty, you can't make good decisions," the anonymous source left off. "The decisions that our leaders make determine what options we have as students, what futures we can hope for, what hopes we can have. When they fail to take that seriously, that's a massive issue."
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