There they go again: UConn blames Kevin Ollie for spending hikes in front-page Wall Street Journal reveal on soaring costs, burdens on students.

Not a good day at Connecticut’s fourth branch of government. The Wall Street Journal shines a light on public university spending–with an emphasis on the University of Connecticut. The state’s premier public university has increased spending, according to the Journal, by 73% between 2002 and 2022. Enrollment has risen by 47%, with much of the burden falling on students.

The Journal story, written by Melissa Korn, Andrea Fuller and Jennifer S. Forsyth, includes an examination of public university spending on athletics, highlighting UConn:

The University of Connecticut won the national championship this spring in men’s basketball, and its women’s team has been a near-constant presence in the Final Four. Yet since 2016, Connecticut’s athletic department has received more than $35 million annually in student fees and university subsidies to stay afloat. In 2022, it took in $55 million in such funds, making up more than half its total athletics budget.

The school said more than $13 million of that subsidy covered a payout to a former men’s basketball coach as part of a legal settlement over his employment contract, and that it faces unique challenges in having to pay rent and other fees for basketball and hockey games, which are played off campus. 

Overall, the University of Connecticut’s spending rose by 73% between 2002 and 2022, far faster than enrollment grew. Much of that was driven by personnel costs, with spending on benefits more than tripling.

Reka Wrynn, associate vice president of budget, planning and institutional research, said that was in part because the school was on the hook for a growing share of the state’s unfunded pension liability. Connecticut was also obligated to pay for raises that unionized employees negotiated with the state, she said.

The treatment of Kevin Ollie, the men’s basketball coach fired by ruse, remains a deep stain on UConn’s administration. That will not begin to change until the university officials who plotted to terminate Ollie’s contract, embarrass the NCAA championship coach and deny him the compensation he was entitled to in an agreement the university negotiated with Ollie endure consequences proportionate to their bad acts.

Daily Ructions readers will profit from reading the entire WSJ story.

Published August 10, 2023.