Sept. 8, 2025: Moving Forward, Together

Dear Colleagues,

The Board of Trustees has charged me with leading Bucknell through an accelerated strategic planning process that will position the University for continued success through a rapidly changing environment. In turn, I have charged our senior leadership team, and especially our provost, our vice president of finance & administration, and our senior vice president of University strategy & advancement, with the design and implementation of this process. Working with and through a number of formal and informal governance and advisory bodies, they will synthesize the best set of options for us to consider over the period ahead. They and many others are doing this work with full and unequivocal support from me, and with high expectations and appropriate requirements from the Board of Trustees.

Within this context, I write today to reiterate key points from my remarks at last week's Faculty Meeting and Staff Forum. Many colleagues were not present at these meetings, and as these points will be important for all of us to keep in mind throughout this academic year — and well beyond — I will review them briefly but directly here and now. 

Since last fall, higher education writ large has been upended in ways that will have lasting implications. We see some of these in the news of the day, especially regarding research universities, while others are less visible but just as profound, including at institutions such as ours. Having just hosted for the eighth time our annual Presidents Dinner at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., I can assure you that these concerns, and many others, are on the minds of all educators, including the leaders of some of the wealthiest institutions in our country. At the same time, and as we have oft-repeated, the so-called "demographic cliff" is upon us, which will still further increase competition for the students we want to bring to Bucknell.

Additionally, as we have discussed extensively over the past year, the University faces financial challenges that demand new ways of thinking. By way of example, our current projections for FY'27, which starts in less than a year, indicate an annual structural deficit of six or seven million dollars. This is not a fabricated diversion or a scare tactic, as a few have wrongly posited, but rather a revelation of the most detailed analyses we've ever had regarding cost and income structures, a variety of unquestioned and thus normative behavioral-financial patterns, and growing pressures on our financial aid programs. For instance, over my entire time at Bucknell — and well before, I've been told – the structure, understanding and use of designated and restricted funds ("des-res funds") has been a consistent source of confusion, which in part has contributed to today's unsustainable budget situation.

My team and I have been transparent about these realities and the steps necessary to address them. Critical examination of the rationale for everything we do is underway, and our deliberations will inform the strategic adaptations and initiatives necessary for the University's continued relevance and vitality. There can be no doubt: we must make adjustments — and some of them will be significant — to continue to successfully enroll future generations of students and provide them with the academic and residence life opportunities they expect at a school like ours.

We are engaging, as we must, in a deep cultural shift at Bucknell — one that questions the status quo, converts opportunities for innovation into new programmatic directions, and rewards nimbleness and flexibility, all the while assessing and confronting the demands of the marketplace for what will soon be a $400,000 degree. This mindset, and the changes that result, may cause anxiety, especially as we confront the inevitable reality that innovation can no longer be purely additive to our various cost structures. Let me be clear that failure to evolve prudently with the times will lead to the decline and risk failure of our beloved Bucknell. This is why the arduous work that I have directed our senior team to lead is so urgent and so vital.

Let me be equally clear that our shared governance system is foundational to achieving the mission of our institution. I've worked within such a system for 40 years. We share a collective responsibility to advance Bucknell while recognizing the distinct roles of the professoriate and the staff as well as the administrative and operational responsibilities carried by the provost and other senior officers to fulfill the charge given to them by me and the Board of Trustees. By availing ourselves of protocols and processes in place to guide participation in shared governance, we can ensure that many perspectives are considered, but those very same mechanisms must not be used to delay or thwart progress. 

I am in my 16th year as president at Bucknell because I believe deeply in our academic mission and what I have characterized publicly as a sacred duty to provide students with truly transformative educational opportunities – and I believe most of you share a similar view. Our work is not easy — in fact, at times it is brutally difficult — but it is meaningful in immeasurable ways. We are charting a path forward that serves our students, supports our faculty and staff, and strengthens the University, all at a time when attitudes about higher education are unequivocally shifting and what we even recently took as immutable verities are now routinely questioned. 

To reiterate: I write these words not to frighten or to mislead, but to be open and clear about what I see ahead. Indeed, Bucknell is strong and vibrant compared to many other institutions — you've surely heard me say this again and again and again. We've built so much to be deeply proud of, and as a result, we fulfill our mission and thus change our students' lives every single day. Bucknell does not have to become a fundamentally different type of institution, but we must evolve and adapt in ways not required of our community in a very long time. 

As I said in my remarks last week, there are two ways for us to move forward: together or divided. I know which is better. Let us together advance our University mission. I look forward to engaging in dialogue throughout this academic year as we continue our strategic planning, in myriad forms. Please watch for more information on that work in the weeks and months ahead, and please also plan to attend my annual University Address on Monday, Nov. 10, beginning at noon in the Weis Center.

My best,

John C. Bravman
President