Saint Augustine's president asks for support, funding for path out of probationary period

So um this it's been a long time coming to

this position but I also understand that we still have

a ways to go what comes next after this decision

Well first of all thank you um for coming to

visit us today

We're so excited that uh Debbie Ral is coming to

uh have some good news

Uh We are thankful for this time with you today

Um First I need to thank some people

I need to thank uh Doctor Jennings Alexander who uh

has led our sacks team here at Saint Augustine's University

She has been an amazing and with the whole team

we put forth a good effort uh and a good

fight

Uh I also want to thank uh the attorneys of

Austin and beg for their support and working to ensure

that we put for not a not just a great

case but you know through the appeals and also through

arbitration

Uh and um Doctor Suzanne Walsh president of Bennett College

uh who's been a great uh colleague assisting us

So we can just think about the right questions when

we went through this process

Uh and also Doctor Kevin James and Morris Brown uh

spent time with him so we can kinda understand the

things we need to do as we work towards just

being accredited

Uh But you're right

Uh This is a happy moment in time but it's

not the final moment

Uh We still have a lot of work to do

and it is getting three audits completed by December actually

by November

And so we are thankful for the uh Raleigh community

the Saint Augustine's family uh with our alumni and friends

and supporters who stood by us and with us

But now we're asking for those who stood on the

sidelines and we're kinda in the wait and see moment

Uh We really need you now we need you to

show up and be supportive as we open our doors

on August 19th for the first day of class

We need support as we need the funding to do

three audits

Uh A typical audit may cost somewhere between 3 to

$600,000 a piece

And so we this is a uh deal breaker if

we don't complete these three audits uh by the time

frame at the end of this um this calendar year

So what would those audits encompass Well it's just your

your standard financial audits

It's your standard thing that any good business uh should

do

Uh the 2021 audit that we was our nemesis before

Uh because we we talked about the challenges that happened

there

We just ran out of funding we ran out of

funding to pay our faculty our staff uh we closed

school early uh not closed school

We went remote back in April um to try to

uh stop the bleeding

Uh So we are yet to even catch up our

faculty staff payments

So these audits are crucial being able to pay for

those three enables us to be compliant when it comes

to sacks

But more importantly it gives an opportunity to write more

So just to make sure that I'm clear these audits

are the ones from before

Are these gonna be fresh audits starting a new So

we have to complete our 2022 fiscal year a 2023

fiscal year and uh the current fiscal year that just

ended 2024

So you mentioned the faculty pay

I I know that that has been i it's been

rough for the people who have continued to you know

stand by the school during the difficult time

What have you been telling them Um What have you

been telling them throughout this time We've been very transparent

every Wednesday

We have a uh a standing call and encouraging them

that the bridge loan is coming

So we've been working on uh several different iterations of

bridge loans trying to find the right deal so that

we can get just enough of of a breathing room

so that we can get to the other side

Uh It just takes time to get some of these

things done

Iron out the uh the iron out the pieces that

we're missing

Uh It's been frustrating though but because to come before

your faculty and staff the people that you are leading

and you still have not yet found that resolution

That's a tough thing

Now if it hadn't been for the alumni association uh

the the community the churches who have wrapped their arms

around our folks at least providing some resources

I don't know where we've been

Uh And some people have stuck it out

Now there are folks who have had to leave because

they had to find employment they had to take care

of themselves and their families they had their bills to

pay and we we gonna miss them

But I also want the opportunity to one day recruit

them back because the legal and loyal uh faculty staff

that we've had here for the um during this time

I owe it

We owe it to them to build a better institution

a more stable institution so that they can come back

with that

I wanna go back to something that you said you

mentioned the bridge loan

Um Can you share where you guys are in that

process Um Just the final stages man

We are just waiting on uh some um one or

two insurance quotes

We're just finalizing uh how we're gonna pay in in

in the stages of being able to make the payments

For instance we wanna pay for uh what we have

with the Department of Education which is crucial

We wanna make sure we pay for all past payrolls

including payroll taxes because that got us in trouble before

So we wanna make sure that we've mapped out everything

that we need to do so we can get to

the other side

Um can you share how much that loan is supposed

to be uh approximately around $7 million And is that

gonna be able to completely fill the gap for the

ma ma ma'am That's what it's called the bridge loan

It's gonna get us started

Uh We are working tirelessly uh again hats off to

my board of trustees you know uh they have not

slept they we we start our meetings our our our

conversations a lot of times around 6630 in the morning

uh where we are with this where are we with

this event Where are we with this conversation What needs

to be done over here looking at every angle because

at the end of the day our most precious asset

is our land

And so we have to make good decisions with it

Uh A lot of people are worried that we're gonna

sell it away

No we're gonna make really good decisions that make sense

uh for an institution today before this institution also tomorrow

Um It's funny because that was exactly gonna be the

next thing that I brought up was the land and

I know that there have been a lot of questions

surrounding that

Um Do you think that is selling it off the

table of selling the land on campus pretty much is

off the table Unless it's a piece that just makes

sense that we're not gonna develop it

We're not gonna do anything with it you know it

may be make sense

All right and we're gonna take real offers not someone

just throwing a number at the table and thinking that

they can get it for nothing

No we're not doing that

Um Some of the off-campus property properties we may be

more inclined to look at doing something

But at the end of the day we're gonna do

our due diligence and we're gonna make sure we have

real partners uh and not people who are just trying

to uh get AAA fire sale

So um I know that you mentioned you guys have

a plan that's in the works to help out with

um faculty

What about the students who were here Um Last semester

there were students who did things like work study

I know that there were some issues with student balances

Is there a game plan to remedy those issues as

well Just as important as the bridge loan is for

faculty and staff uh to for their payments the student

payments are at the at the top because we owe

that to them

That's their money and we wanna make sure the student

refunds are paid first because that also helps us satisfy

uh what we have to do with the Department of

Education as well

Uh Doing those things also helps us get to some

outstanding funding that is due to us from the Department

of Education

So those are things we have to do make sure

we pay our student debt and make sure we pay

our covenant to the Department of Education

So to make sure that I understand that $7 million

bridge loan is meant to help specifically with paying people

back specifically faculty and staff faculty and staff the Department

of Education which includes our student refunds and to help

take care of the audience how are you guys gonna

be able to um you know like make more revenue

to make up the rest of the gap that the

university is facing Well that's a great question

And so that's where we're leaning on the fact that

there's um revenue that we have at the Department of

Education but we have to satisfy the covenants that we

have to do first

Uh when we start school we wanna make sure we

have students students understand that just like anywhere else we

have to pay to go to school you know whatever

your financial aid doesn't cover you're responsible for the rest

And then we have to rev up our fundraising

One of the things that uh I've been known for

throughout my career is the being a fundraiser we have

not done that

We have not uh knocked on the doors we have

not sent out letters we have not done what we

should be doing at this time to shrug up some

additional uh revenue sources

And so those are the things we have to do

on top of that

Our board of trustees and myself we're working on a

long term plan to look at some possible development development

options that can be some sustainable funding uh for years

to come

Can you elaborate on that Um Not right now because

there's we're still at the uh early stages

So without having firm uh Lois in place uh we'll

be a little I'll be a little premature

So um you mentioned the fact that now the school

um you guys are planning to go back to school

in August

I know that some work needed to be done on

things like uh dorms and getting the fa facilities

Um you know and a good place where you can

actually host students

Um Is that where is that money gonna come from

Well some of that money we've already had you know

deferred maintenance is something that we are responsible for at

all times

So again uh some of this has been the uh

the great assistance of uh of some of our community

friends and partners who helped us and then we've been

along and along making um strides to repair the things

we can that we could and the preparation of a

smaller class

Now we would love to have the 850 almost 900

students that started last semester and we finished with a

little over 750

We would love to have that student body back this

coming um fall

But the reality is we're gonna probably be a lot

smaller anywhere from 3 to 200 students but we'll be

open

That's the most important thing

How many students are you guys looking at right now

Um Right now uh somewhere between two and 300

Um and that's the number of students who are currently

enrolled uh going through the enrollment process

So again uh many colleges and universities are still facing

challenges with the new with the FASFA

So once we get some of those bugs lined up

then we'll have been assigning their funding

But yeah we do have a good pipeline um to

help get us to at least a $300 300 student

number

So naturally with a smaller um student body there's going

to be I'm assuming a smaller need for faculty and

staff

What does that look like How many how many faculty

and staff are you having to not renew What what

does that look like in terms of the people who

will actually be here to staff a much smaller class

So one of the things we have been open and

honest throughout this entire semester with our faculty staff and

sometimes it's having those hard conversations and making those tough

decisions of of cost containment uh reducing the number of

faculty staff that we need for the current students that

we have

Um So some programs have been sunset it because of

the lack of enrollment in those spaces

So it's been tough but yet we've made those tough

decisions especially on the faculty side

Uh Doctor Jennis Alexander along with our hr director uh

Mr Pierre S have been working together to kind of

slim trim down till we get to what we need

And then we'll add going forward if if our enrollment

increases and if our enrollment decreases then we have to

make those necessary steps as well

What is sunsetting Sunsetting is you're not totally getting rid

of a program but because you may not have a

lot of students majoring in it

You just wanna sunset it for a moment and evaluate

it later

How many of those programs are being sunset it at

this point We don't have a whole lot

I don't have that number in front of me right

now

Are there specific programs that come to mind Uh maybe

chemistry uh a Solid chemistry program Now again you have

a chemistry professor because you need it for some of

the other majors but actual chemistry major will probably be

one that comes to mind

Um Do you know like a percentage of how many

faculty and staff is going to be returning

Uh we probably reduce that number probably almost about 30

to 40%

I wanna go all the way back to the beginning

of our conversation about um like being reinstated within sacks

Um previously you had said that um you know legal

action was not off the table if arbitration didn't go

in your favor

Um and now it seems that you there there's no

need for that right Um Talk to me about now

like talk to me now about the steps that you

were kind of concerned about but don't necessarily need to

be taken any longer

Well again if we had to go to the litigation

route that would have probably staved off this accreditation battle

for probably a year a year or so would have

given us time to fix and right some of the

wrongs that we've had from a fiscal stability perspective

Our academics have never been in question uh in under

fire or in question because we do good work when

in those spaces

Um But now without having to go the litigation route

it also gives us a short run runway

So we have to get these audits done

It's either you do or you don't because this time

around there is no other arbitration there is not an

appeals decision either you are in compliance with S AC

CLC or you're not

So this is a victory

Today

We get to tell the world that yes we are

accredited and we are thankful for the work that we've

done with our partner S AC Coc

But now we have to answer to our peer groups

again through monitoring reports and they come to check on

us to see are we doing what we say we

were gonna do And at the end of the day

either we show it and be ready to um move

forward or be done

And so now the ball is in our court and

I'm like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant I want the

ball in my hands if we can take that last

shot

Remind me again how much you said each audit would

cost I mean approximately anywhere from they can be as

low as 100 and 80 to 300,000

They could be as high as 650,000

It all depends on the audit firm that you use

and the work that needs to go in to do

that

So let's just say they're $900 total

So or $900,000 total is four months enough time to

get all that done and raise all that money

So getting the work done

Yes we can get the work done

Now this is where I'm talking to our greater rale

community our alumni community people who just support of H

BC U

I'm sorry we're here

We're at this space right now

But I am really challenging if you sat on the

sidelines and wondered and and if this school was gonna

pull it off this is it this is the time

our our Falcon our Falcon Pride initiative has been going

strong

We've been still seeing support but it's time to rev

it up

It's time for us to say hey it's about Saint

Augustine's University

It's not about this thing or that thing

It's about the vitality of this institution and we don't

have any second chances

We've been given it already

We've earned it

Uh We've done the work we wanna show the work

That's all we've asked for in the very beginning an

opportunity to show the work that we've been doing to

get towards being compliant

So let's say fall semester comes everything's going much better

Things are looking up

How how can we sustain through an entire school year

How do students know that they're not gonna return And

it's going to be a repeat or there are gonna

be more issues once they get to campus

Well some of the the um deals that we've been

working with the partners that we've been working with these

partnerships are gonna help us sustain our funding for several

years not just one year

So we're working on some really some really big revenue

generating items to give us some cash flow to give

us some breathing room again by having a small uh

student population it allows us to sunset some uh using

the word sunset again

Take a look at some of our our facilities

We might need to tear down some dorms pretty much

We probably do need to do that

And so possibly some public private partnerships could come out

of that

We might need to uh reimagine what does college education

look like You know are there some other avenues that

we can look at where you're talking about stackable credential

Maybe there are some adult learners out there who just

need a few courses or a few um uh uh

credits and something to make the next move

You know we have a very strong criminal justice program

Maybe the local um municipalities may need some of their

um police officers or first responders to get a degree

in um criminal justice

We wanna be what we need to be for this

rider commu Raleigh community

You know we're in the research triangle

How can we utilize where we are and how can

the research trying to utilize who we are as a

as a minority serving institution to do some of the

things that collectively we can make this reads about So

you mentioned the bridge loan um development projects that you

can't elaborate on

Are there any other um revenue streams that you guys

are are working on Yes I mean we're we're working

on things all the time

I mean from looking at the properties that we rent

uh looking at how do we uh you know maybe

get those up to market rates

So there's a number of things we are currently working

on

We have an amazing um track facility

Uh So how do we utilize that uh for revenue

generating So we're we're we're thinking about everything at this

moment

Um I also wanted to ask about so you guys

are in this probationary period you have to resolve everything

um that came up as an issue before

Um Are there any other concerns or steps that need

to be taken aside from like the audits and the

things that we've already discussed during that probationary period And

is that any different than if you guys weren't on

a probationary period Well once we get through this then

we have to think about our reaffirmation and that's for

10 years right So once we do all we get

these audits done and we get through December come January

we're back at it again uh working on our reaffirmation

So uh the work won't will will never stop

Um But we are continually monitoring ourselves

We're continually trying to just make better decisions again

Uh It's not a Marcus burgess thing

It's the Saint Augustine's thing

We wanna make sure that we have mutually beneficial partnerships

We wanna make sure we have shared shared governance that

faculty and staff are part of the decision making process

But more importantly we wanna make sure that the Greater

Raleigh community uh in North Carolina

It's a partner with us and we have to leave

the campus to be partners with them at the same

time invite them to come be a part of what

we're doing

Um I mean how do we make sure something like

this doesn't happen again checks and balances we got here

because there was not proper checks and balances

My administration my team has to make sure that my

board is fully informed

They are not able to make decisions if they don't

have all the information

And so it is important that we keep them informed

of what's good bad or indifferent that they know so

that when they meet they can make the decision so

they can know who to call so that they can

give us advisement or make some suggestions

You know we are rolling up our sleeves together to

get through this mess but it should have not been

this way

You cannot make decisions in Higher Ed as a board

if you don't have all the information to make decisions

with are there any professors that are being paid Uh

not right now

And again we are trying to rectify this

Uh I don't want to go to my Wednesday meeting

but I'll have it being final this time around

Anything else that you wanna add or that I didn't

touch on that you think is important

I know this is like you know let's talk about

what would you say to a student who was on

the fence Ok

So what what would you say to a student who

was on the fence So for those students and their

parents who've been on the fence about Saint Augustine's University

our graduating class over 100 and 60 who just left

here 54% of them had GPA S above a 3.0

our entire student body

GPA was uh there was 52% of them that had

GPA S above a 3.0 we do very good academic

work

We ensure that you get meaningful re uh research uh

internships

We pour a lot into our students

We may not have the best facilities now but we

are working working towards those things

We want those students to consider being a part of

this change

You have a leader a and me as the president

you have a supportive board but more importantly you have

that falcon community from your uh professors your faculty and

staff and that great alumni unit out there who's gonna

support you thinking through a thinking and thin

So if you've been on the fence about should you

choose Saint Ogg come try us I'm sure you'll like

this

I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit

You have interim in your title right now

Are you do you think that's gonna change Um taking

the AAA phrase that my grandmother used to say

And uh there's a great gospel song entitled I'm gonna

let the work I've done Speak for me

Good bad or indifferent

If the work that I'm doing gives me the opportunity

to become full uh become the president uh with the

interim tag off my name

Then let the work I do show that uh there's

still some things that I can do better

Um Sometimes it's communication sometimes not being a little disorganized

My desk looks good now but it probably wasn't like

this last week

So there I'm very self aware of the things that

I need to grow and do better on

But what I'm never gonna shy away from is the

hard work making a tough call making the tough decisions

taking sometimes tough interviews

Uh We're gonna do the work I'm gonna do the

work but I can't do it by myself

Everything we've done to have to have remained open without

pay with the lack of funding and with a lot

of people writing us off has been because we have

stayed as a coach unit

We believe in one another

Now

It's time to pay people

It's time to get some resources turning and it's time

for all those folks who again who sat on the

fence and had all these different reasons of why not

to support

We have four months either we get it done or

we could say we would have could have should have

I like to say we've marked our our our name

in history as being that turnaround school who've gotten it

done not by ourselves but collectively from this community

December 2024

If we don't get it done what happens I'm gonna

see if you will help me

Let me be your cameraman at least a backup camera

man

Uh But um we'll come to that

What I like to say is for students we have

a teacher plan

If for some reason we don't get it done we

do have schools that will take our students willingly uh

and accept all their credits

We will work with our faculty staff to get them

placed at other places

Uh I don't envision it coming into that because I

know the team that's behind me

I know my board

I know that Falcon alumni group they're not going by

We're not going down quietly

We can do all we can while we can uh

6 to 7 days whatever it takes to get the

job done we're gonna do it and what we give

sacks in December will be the very best that we

have to give

And if it's not good enough at least we know

we've tried and we gave it our best