At a press conference last Monday, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system president Terrence Cheng warned that the state Legislature’s latest budget proposal would be “devastating” for the system. Cheng said the budget, proposed early last month by the Senate Appropriations Committee, would create a $335 million shortfall and force the 17-campus system to prepare for mass layoffs, tuition hikes and potentially even campus closures. Specifically, he said CSCU would need to let go at least 650 full-time employees, including 200 faculty positions, and consider eliminating the jobs of at least another 1,000 part-time staff and adjuncts.
