Chart shows the number of on-campus applications and admissions over the 2005 to 2007 period. ().

– Bill Rautenstrauch and Ted Kramer

The Observer

Eastern Oregon University will be closing Hunt Hall dormitory this fall and plans to bring in a consultant this summer to help it find a way to deal with declining enrollment.

A significant drop in applications and admissions over the past two years is causing concern among the state Board of Higher Education, the community and EOU staff, some of whom see the enrollment drop as symptomatic of a bigger problem.

The number of students applying for admission as on-campus students has dropped from 1,308 applications in 2005, to 1,015 in 2006 and 771 for fall 2007, a 41 percent decline over two years. Admissions had a similar decline, from 725 in 2005, to 623 in 2006 and 393 for 2007, a 46 percent drop over two years.

Among all students, which takes into account distance ed students, the university saw a 37 percent drop in applicants and a 41 percent drop in admissions over two years.

Total enrollment on-campus and distance education hit a peak in 2005 at 3,533. In fall 2006 it fell to 3,425. During winter term 2007, enrollment was at 3,261 and by spring the total was at 3,079.

The trend has caught the attention of the State Board of Higher Education.

"The chancellor and the board view (the enrollment issue) at EOU as a serious problem that has to be reversed,” said Jim Francesconi, the newest member of the state Board of Higher Education who visited EOU in May to gauge community and staff reaction to what is happening at EOU. "It is a threat to what we are trying to accomplish in Eastern Oregon” of trying to get more students to see the value of higher education.

Francesconi went on to say that EOU’s enrollment decline is "one of the most serious issues before the higher ed board, from both the chancellor’s and the board’s perspectives.” He said the board expects EOU to present a plan to the board in July on how it will reverse the trend.

EOU President Khosrow Fatemi, who is in his third year at EOU, confirmed last week that the school plans to close the Hunt Hall dormitory and lay off two custodians, as well as bring in a consultant to help it deal with the enrollment issue.

Fatemi said the decision to close the dorm will stand unless there is a significant increase in the number of students interested in living on campus. The closure isn’t necessarily permanent, he said.

"At this point, with the housing occupancy numbers we have, it looks like Hunt will close for a year," he said.

He added that the final decision on the closure and elimination of the two jobs will be made in August.

Fatemi acknowledged that falling enrollment at the school played a part in the decision to close the dorm, but said it is not the only reason. Many students are finding it cheaper to live off campus, he said.

The cost for a dorm room will be about $8,600 this fall.

Fatemi said he doesn’t think the enrollment picture is as bleak it appears, since the school saw a 6 percent increase in enrollment just a few years ago.

"This year we’ve had the second highest enrollment we’ve ever had. I don’t think that’s a crisis," he said.

Enrollment management plan

Fatemi confirmed that the college has put out a request for proposals for an enrollment management plan for EOU.

"We are seeking consultation on EOU’s enrollment management structure,” Fatemi said.

He said he proposed the study to OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner. The OUS has allocated $50,000 for the study, Fatemi said.

The deadline for the requests for proposals was June 22. The university received "a few” proposals, Fatemi said.

The university is seeking a consultant who will study the "existing enrollment management including organization structure, entity administration, policies and procedures and practices,” the RFP introduction said.

Fatemi said a committee will evaluate the proposals. The university expects to have the consultants on campus this month and a final report by the end of August. The report will be reviewed in September.

Fatemi said that findings and suggestions will be shared with the "campus community” at the start of fall term and a final strategy for implementation will be put in place soon after that.

Number of factors at work

Fatemi said he believes a number of factors are at work in the enrollment picture most related to the school’s geographic location.

The factors include a stagnant regional population, decreasing numbers of Eastern Oregon high school students planning to attend college and increasing competition from other schools.

"Washington State University gives in-state rates to students from nine Oregon counties, including ours," he said. "They’re also giving students $3,000 scholarships and free laptops."

Although EOU doesn’t provide free laptops to students, it is the only public university in Oregon that does not have out-of-state tuition rates.

Fatemi said that increasing tuition rates over the past few years, due to state budget cuts, also factor into the decline in enrollment.

Yet another problem for the school, according to Fatemi, is negative publicity from sexual harassment lawsuits filed against the university.

"It will take some time to recover from that. Good publicity wears off much more quickly than bad publicity," he said.

There has also been controversy over the decision to cut the school’s baseball program. Critics have said as many as 40 students left school because of the cut.

Fatemi said the number is much lower. He provided figures showing that 14 of the 29 players on the roster were retained after baseball was eliminated.

No numbers are available on how many students might have enrolled this past fall in order to play baseball in the spring.

Outreach planned

Fatemi said he is convinced Eastern’s situation will improve in the next few years. He said an increase in the state higher education budget for next year will help ease the school’s financial woes.

He said he expects an outreach program targeting high school freshmen and middle school eighth-graders to begin having an impact within three to four years. The program is driven by a belief that the earlier students are contacted, the better chance there is they will decide to attend college. Recently, the state awarded the outreach program about $580,000.

"In the big term, the program is very promising," Fatemi said.

Fatemi also said the school has designed programs to help students succeed in their first year so that they decide to come back for a second. Conditional students who may be having trouble with their studies are being tracked and helped. In addition, the university is working with regional community colleges to streamline transferability of credits, Fatemi said.

He concedes those measures will have an impact over the long term, but not the short.

Concerns expressed

The State Board of Higher Education isn’t alone in voicing concern about recent trends at EOU. The decline in applications, admissions and enrollment is causing concern among some people in the community as well as among EOU staff.

Dale Mammen, a La Grande attorney and longtime EOU donor and supporter, said he is extremely concerned about the future of EOU.

The drop in applications, he said, is likely due to a number of factors that have built up over the past three years.

"A series of major negative activities have occurred,” Mammen said. "Concerns about the administration that led to a no-confidence vote in the president; the sexual harassment scandal and the fact that the person is still on the payroll a year later drawing a substantial salary; cutting the baseball program; reserves at an all-time low. There’s a real sense of uncertainty. As a business person, I believe there’s a focal point a lack of leadership.”

Mammen said that Fatemi has not done the university any favors by consistently addressing groups about students from Eastern Oregon not seeing the need for getting a college degree.

"The president is invisible in the community,” Mammen said. "But when he does appear his theme is that Eastern Oregon high school students are uneducated, unsophisticated and unmotivated.

"People are hearing this message. Why would I want to go to a university that believes I am uneducated and unmotivated?”

Mammen said he voiced his concerns to OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner a year ago but "it fell on deaf ears."

"It’s almost like they want to destroy EOU,” he said.

"I’m really, really concerned,” Mammen said. "Eastern is such an asset, but can it recover? How bad does it have to get?”

Steve Clements, an information technology worker who serves on the school’s budget and planning committee, said the application and admission numbers are alarming.

"Except for Oregon State University’s Cascades Center in Bend, there aren’t any other institutions in the state facing (admission decreases) of this level," he said.

Floyd Mitchell, a custodian at EOU who criticized Fatemi’s leadership in an earlier opinion column submitted to The Observer, said in another submission that he is angered by the fact that two people in his department are set to lose their jobs. He blames initiatives taken under Fatemi’s leadership, including tuition hikes, the elimination of the baseball program and the number of administrative hirings that occurred in Fatemi’s first year.

Mitchell said administration policies are to blame for declining enrollment and under-used dorms.

"Two custodians who are loved and appreciated by many students are being laid off, yet those administrative staff positions remain. What’s wrong with this picture?" he said.

Pernsteiner, the chancellor of the OUS, did not return a phone call from The Observer.