Accreditor asks Cabrini for information on its cuts to senior academic leadership positions

The body that accredits Cabrini University has decided to examine the school’s planned cuts of senior academic leadership positions, including that of the provost, to help stem a mounting deficit.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education said Monday it had requested a supplemental report from Cabrini, due Nov. 16. On its website, the commission said it was asking for information on planning, resources and institutional improvement and governance, leadership, and administration.

A commission spokesperson declined to be more specific about what the commission was looking for, saying that its work is confidential and that the outcome of the request would be posted on its website. Among potential outcomes, the commission could accept the report, ask for more information, request a visit or take a “non-compliance” action, such as a warning, said Nicole Biever, the spokesperson.

» READ MORE: With a mounting deficit, Cabrini University eliminates academic leadership positions, including the provost

Michelle Filling-Brown, Cabrini’s dean of academic affairs, said in a statement that the commission is seeking “further details on the university’s restructuring and our three-year financial plan, which combines cost reductions with targeted efforts to increase strategic revenues.”

The information request was prompted by recent media coverage of Cabrini’s plans to downsize, according to a university spokesperson, who said the school will comply.

Last week, Helen G. Drinan, interim president, said the school was facing a deficit of $5 million to $6 million in its $45 million budget and enrollment had slid to about 1,500, down from 2,360 in 2016.

» READ MORE: Cabrini cuts staff, programs, as coronavirus pandemic and competition take toll

The school, she said, planned to go from three colleges to two, with the School of Education being incorporated into the School of Business and Professional Studies, which will be renamed the School of Business, Education, and Professional Studies. (Previously, the university had said the education school would be absorbed by the School of Arts and Sciences.) The position of provost — which acts as the chief academic officer — as well as the associate provost and three deans were eliminated and replaced by a dean of academic affairs and two associate deans. And 18 department chairs were reduced to eight. Changes also were announced for the institutional advancement office and the office that handles student life.

Those cuts, with more to come later, are expected to save the small Catholic university in Radnor nearly $1 million this year, Drinan said, and along with efforts to add revenue sources, lead to a “break-even financial performance” within three years.

Drinan said the school also was exploring a merger.

Asked whether colleges must have a provost or chief academic officer, Biever said that the commission’s standard on governance, leadership and administration requires that it be led in such a way that allows the school to meet its mission and goals.

“That includes, among other requirements, having the assistance of qualified administrators, sufficient in number, to enable the chief executive officer to discharge his/her duties effectively and an administration appropriate in size and with relevant experience to assist the chief executive officer in fulfilling his/her roles and responsibilities,” Biever said.