Stephen F. Austin Board of Regents votes to join University of Texas System

The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents voted Tuesday to join the University of Texas System.

Since the beginning of the fall semester, leaders of the Nacogdoches-based university, which has about 11,300 students, have been considering joining one of four university systems: the Texas A&M University System, the Texas State University System, The Texas Tech University System and the UT System.

SFA, along with Texas Southern University, which is a historically Black university in Houston, are the only two Texas public universities that are unaffiliated with a university system.

The SFA Board of Regents voted to join the UT System after a subcommittee recommended doing so during the Tuesday meeting. The move won't become official, however, until state lawmakers pass legislation allowing SFA to join the UT system, which likely will happen in the upcoming legislative session that begins in January.

If it receives the Legislature's approval, SFA would be joining nine academic institutions, including UT, and five health institutions within the UT System, which had record enrollment this year of 244,276 students across all campuses.

As part of the monthslong consideration to join a system, the SFA Board of Regents established a subcommittee of university board members. That panel met with leaders from each school system and solicited feedback from faculty, staff, students and alumni.

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Before the vote, some SFA board regents cited several reasons why they believed joining the UT System was in the school's best interest, including it having a larger pool of experienced applicants in the university’s search for a new president and access to the Permanent University Fund, an endowment that currently benefits The University of Texas System and Texas A&M System.

According to a report from the UT System, a PUF-eligible institution of SFA’s approximate size and need would have received an estimated $73.5 million of additional funding by joining the UT System in fiscal 2023. SFA would save $124 million over four years by joining the UT System through support for mental health services, academic equipment, information technology services and more, according to a presentation by the SFA subcommittee during the board meeting.

Tom Mason, vice chair of the SFA Board of Regents and subcommittee member, said he believed the UT System would support faculty and staff efforts to strengthen the school's unique colleges and programs; allow SFA to become "world-class in facilities and operations"; and allow the university to continue to positively affect the area's workforce preparation, household income, health care outcomes, college attendance rates and quality of life.

“I believe the UT System will best provide competitive wages and salary equity for faculty and staff, an opportunity to collaborate among systemwide faculty and staff to benefit teaching methods and research, and enrollment growth (that) will be enhanced through scholarship programs and financial aid,” Mason said.

Kevin Eltife, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, said the regents and system leadership deeply admire SFA’s rich tradition and successful history, and they are honored and enthusiastic about having SFA join the UT System.

“Our proposal to SFA outlined our sincere commitment to helping the university build upon its programs, traditions and culture that have made the university unique for nearly a century, while adding resources to help amplify those strengths and ultimately serve more Texans,” Eltife said in a statement.

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Affiliation process

As part of the process, each university system submitted answers to a series of questions from students, staff and faculty. In its answers, the UT System said it would dedicate an annual distribution of at least $1 million directly to SFA to support student financial aid and prioritize faculty salary increases in the next two to three years.

“We have done a preliminary analysis of salaries and have determined that SFA average faculty salaries need to be raised to be consistent with salaries at similar UT institutions,” the UT System wrote. “An additional $5.5 million would be needed at SFA to bring faculty salaries and associated fringe benefits to that level.”

In its response, the UT System also pledged that the SFA’s name, mascot, colors, logos and all identifiers and traditions would remain. It noted that SFA would receive “significant funding” from the PUF for capital construction and programs to support faculty recruitment and laboratory costs, deferred maintenance, libraries and other expenses.

As the Texas population continues to grow, the UT System wrote that SFA’s inclusion in the system would be key to the system’s efforts to meet the state’s educational, health care and research needs, particularly in East Texas, and improve the quality of Texans' lives.

“The UT System envisions SFA making significant strides in enrollment growth, expanded academic programs that meet the pressing needs of Texas’ workforce, and new collaborations with other UT institutions to allow faculty and researchers to advance their work with more partners and resources,” the system said. “SFA would be a vital institution in the UT System and essential partner in expanding service to Texas.”

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SFA students, staff, faculty administrators and alumni all submitted reports about the strengths and weaknesses of each system based on their responses to the university's questions and what it wanted the board to consider when making a decision.

In a presentation of the pros and cons of joining each system, student leaders noted that the UT System would pledge funding for financial aid; library renovations and upkeep; and access to cybersecurity software systems, insurance and digital library coverage. However, they wrote that the system’s responses were largely focused on financial aspects and were not student-centered.

According to a survey conducted by staff, faculty and administrators, respondents said the UT System had the strongest commitment to staff salaries, faculty salaries, financial aid, financial strength, mission-centric budgeting and “signature programs” compared with the three other university systems.

Staff, faculty and administrators also stressed in the report for the board to consider joining a system that had mission-centric budget proposals, financial clarity and investment in people who interact directly with students and support frontline faculty and staff.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Stephen F. Austin Board of Regents votes to join UT System