Exclusive: President Zimmerman on the major changes and the future of Clarke

On the morning of Wednesday, November 5, Acting President Dr. Yvonne Zimmerman welcomed us to her still sparingly decorated new space, the presidential office. Zimmerman was appointed as president by the Board of Trustees last week, following the by-laws after President Fletcher Lamkin suddenly offered his resignation on October 23^rd. Now, just weeks later, Zimmerman has the difficult task of navigating this school through one of its biggest challenges in its almost two-century history. We sat down with her for an exclusive interview to answer all the question most important to the students at Clarke University.

Inside the interview with President Zimmerman

In May of this year, when schools with the potential for an alliance, informed Clarke that its operational deficit needed to be reduced by $3 million, the cabinet recognized that significant changes were necessary to stabilize the university’s budget. The administration emphasizes that multiple options were weighed up against each other, but there was no other way than discontinuing these programs. “We can’t point fingers at anyone, there was no single person responsible”, the president said. When being asked what benefits an alliance with another school has and what it could look like, she explained that it potentially means “jointly offered programs, new and better technology systems [like Moodle] or a contract with a larger dining hall provider to better the options for food available at Clarke at the moment.” Even with an alliance, sports would not be combined, and Clarke will remain Clarke, with its unique BVM-Catholic identity, and distinctive core values. The President could not fully guarantee that Clarke will stay an independent university and also told us that “in order to announce possible alliance partners, the government shutdown would have to be ended first and there would need to be enough staffing in the Department of Education” to go forward with the next steps of the alliance, which would include the announcement of possible partner schools.

The pressing issue on the table was the cost of every student attending Clarke exceeding tuition by a staggering $5,000. The reason for these high costs comes mainly from extrinsic factors, like high inflation over the last 5 years, and social factors like the FAFSA changes last academic year and the “increasing rhetoric about having no need for a college degree anymore.” With these costs, the university has an operating deficit of $6.5 million per year, that must be covered by endowment. With the implemented changes, the deficit will shrink but remain at about $3 million. Nevertheless achieving their goal of decreasing the deficit by $3 million, would open up the next steps towards an alliance. A deficit is different from a debt, which Clarke has owed additionally. The $5 million gift will eliminate that debt, but a deficit is different from a debt, which Clarke has owed additionally. For this reason, tuition will not be influenced by these changes and will likely go up at a common nationwide rate of 1-2%.

Students affected by the discontinuing of 13 programs will be able to work with their advisors to find out the best option in their individual case. The President laid out the 3 distinct factors to every student-situation: Which program they were in, how far they were into the program and what they want to get out of their program. Available options also include taking classes at Loras and UD, where both Presidents have already reached out to Zimmerman to offer their support and take any students that may need classes at other schools to finish out their degree without having to transfer. As for the doctoral program for nursing, there is a possibility of most students being fully taught out, but it is still a work in progress to get every student to their desired end-goal. “We can’t make promises we can’t keep”, the President pointed out.

When asked about the possibility of donations saving certain programs, the former vice-president of Academic Affairs answered that she doesn’t see a chance, due to the interest for those majors just not being high enough. Other donation-funded programs like the new exercise science program are expected to be self-sustainable after an initial push, because there is much more interest in the major.

Not only did students lose 13 out of 33 total programs (39%), but faculty was also cut by 25% (23 faculty members). For many professors that came as a shock, leaving them without a job at the end of this academic year. In the discontinued departments, every faculty member was let go, but additionally there were cuts in the biology, math, chemistry, education, and the nursing department. These faculty cuts were made with a scoring system that takes tenure and rank into consideration. Zimmerman wants to retain everybody she can, saying if there are positions opening up, the first people to be considered are the released faculty members if they fit the requirements.

Lastly, the interview focused on athletics and what the future for sports at Clarke looks like. As mentioned in the official communication of Clarke, a new coaching matrix was put into place that will determine the coaching staff size dependent on roster size. These changes will take effect after a coach leaves their position, affecting the cheer & dance team right now, following the announcement of director Terri Mayberry’s resignation. With every resignation, the affected team’s profitability is evaluated, but as of now there is no plan to eliminate any sport, because they are the driving factor for enrollment at Clarke. Athletics is also watching the trends in college sports right now and recognized the emergence of flag football but is not actively pursuing a new program yet.

Zimmerman knows that this is a hard time for everybody at Clarke University and hopes to bring some clarity to many students and faculty that feel without a plan right now. She asks for some time for the administration to come up with all the appropriate steps to make this transition have the “minimal impact” possible and preserve what Clarke has always been: home away from home.

Mya McNeil and Benjamin Reiser