In more ways than one, money is on the minds of Slippery Rock University's leaders concerning the school's potential affiliation with Edinboro University.

“I would like to see the council in the coming months begin to frame positions for the board of governors about where you see points of concerns,” said SRU President William Behre at the special Advancement Committee meeting Wednesday.

Two key issues arose concerning SRU's Capital Campaign and Edinboro's debt.

Dennis Washington, vice president for university advancement, said some believe the affiliation could affect the Capital Campaign, which is an annual undertaking by the university to raise funds from donors. Washington said the pandemic will likely pose more problems than the affiliation. He said the disconnect from donors due to social mitigation efforts could be the core problem. He said a video call lacks the personal touch. He said he and his team are looking into ways to better meet with donors in the future.

“In this environment, it's going to take us longer in the quiet phase,” Washington said. “We have to recognize that we've got to have an opportunity to engage with our donors face to face.”

Behre said just one part of hesitation on the donors' part is coming from an uncertainty that their donations would not be used on Slippery Rock students.

“Any money that comes into Slippery Rock and its students, it will stay with Slippery Rock students,” Behre said.

Edinboro's debt was also discussed at the meeting. The first part of PASSHE's process to evaluate its proposed affiliations is to look at the financial impacts of the agreements.

“Spoiler alert, it's going to be financially smart to do this,” Behre said.

While Behre said he was optimistic about the financial feasibility, he had a concern about how Edinboro's debt would affect SRU.

Due to the pandemic, SRU officials are anticipating an approximate $4.4 million deficit heading into next year, but Behre has said in the past that the university has reserves to handle the hit this year.

Behre said absorbing the entirety of that debt would not be good for SRU, but the system may decide to help alleviate that burden.

“If the system absorbs some of that debt, it obviously becomes less of a threat to us,” he said.

Behre said despite the issues raised at Wednesday's meeting, there are still many good things that could come from the affiliation. He said merging administration and faculty roles will be more efficient and less costly. He said academic programs could also see boosts with shared resources.

Behre said the SRU and Edinboro affiliation may be used as a test to see if a strong financial institution joining forces with a struggling institution can find a way to save one without hurting the other.

“We're distinct in that we're the only school that's not in financial distress taking part in this,” Behre said. “I don't think it's going to stay that way.”

Wednesday's meeting was also the first time Lia Paradis participated in her role as liaison for the faculty to the council of trustees.

The role was approved at the last council of trustees meeting to allow the faculty to have further input in the direction the university takes in shaping its brand.

Paradis was asked if she had any comments on the affiliation.

“We're all interested in seeing how we move forward,” she said.

William Behre