On Jan. 14, Loyola University announced that Stuart Gay will become the vice president of finance and assume oversight of the university’s financial functions. To most students and faculty, this is just another faceless name in the administration. However, to New Orleans locals or anyone involved in local politics, this name might ring a bell.
In the fall of the 2024-2025 school year, NOLA public schools officials announced a $36 million miscalculation that will drastically affect schools and students across the city. Schools will have to make budget cuts in staff salaries, benefits, and transportation to accommodate the miscalculated budget. Right before this dire information was made public, the Chief Financial Officer, who is in charge of overseeing all financial aspects of the district left. The district spokeswoman, Taslin Alfonzo, stated the former CFO “moved on to pursue an exciting new career opportunity.” Loyola University’s new vice president of finance is no other than NOLA public school’s former CFO, Stuart Gay. Given Loyola University’s financial history, it is startling to see how much trust the university has put in someone who overlooked such a drastic mistake.
Loyola’s financial decline started in 2012 when administrators made a miscalculation in the balance between merit-based financial aid and full tuition revenue. This decline worsened with enrollment rates lowering from 2013 to 2016. Even after enrollment rates increased in 2018, Loyola University was put on probation by our accreditation agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The probation was implemented because Loyola failed to meet two key standards, having sound financial resources and responsibly managing those resources. The school was taken off probation in 2019, but the public image of the school remains the same.
The Board of Trustees’ lack of transparency on the university’s budget has been a topic of discussion by students and faculty following on and off-campus protests urging Dr. Cole and administrators to disclose all university investments, and it seems all attempts for transparency have been shut down by the administration. But as more construction projects pop up on campus, tuition rates increase, and enrollment continues to decrease, concerns about the university’s budget grow. So how can we trust our administrators’ decision to hand over our crippling budget to someone who allegedly allowed such a grave mistake?
It would be unfair to say that the public school’s miscalculation is all Gay’s fault. There was apparently an entire team behind the mistake. However, it was his job as the CFO to overlook the numbers, which it seems he failed to do. This raises the question of whether or not he will overlook similar mistakes made within the university and if so, would administrators be transparent about it or would it remain a private matter?
In any case, students and faculty remain uninformed about the university’s budget and who is overlooking it. Loyola’s press release announcing Gay’s position gave no accreditation to his time and role within the NOLA public schools, which may lead some to believe administrators do not want the community to know of his previous alleged financial mistakes. I can only hope that our new Vice President of Finance puts an effort into useful matters that work to better the Loyola community. Maybe we will see increased salaries for professors and custodians or better funding for our struggling departments.
