Instead, he found more than 2,000 had gathered for the homecoming game.
"Things looked good, and we had a great homecoming. I understand behind all this, things were not necessarily as good as they looked. But they weren't as bad as the press made it appear."
About a year after that visit, Dr. Garland was named president of Central State, Ohio's only state-supported historically black university. He is steering the school through recovery from a crisis that in many ways was as devastating as the tornado that flattened much of Central State in 1974.
For much of 1996, evidence of fiscal mismanagement at the school seemed to emerge daily. Over the next year, federal, state and local investigators were like miners who had hit upon the mother lode: scratching the surface revealed serious problems, and digging deeper uncovered a gold mine of "fraud, waste and abuse," according to one state report.
Student fees had been diverted to pay for the football program, dormitories had so many fire and safety code violations they were closed, and improper use of loan and grant money was discovered. Most troubling, the school was nearly $9 million in debt.
State lawmakers considered closing Central State. Instead, the legislature approved a bailout plan.
In January, the school will host an academic competition for Ohio high schoolers. Fifteen scholarships -- worth $400,000 -- will be awarded.
Serious hurdles remain. Enrollment is 978 students, about half of what it was before the reports of mismanagement problems put the school's future in jeopardy. Only three of the nine dormitories have reopened. Faculty have not had pay raises since 1994.
The football and baseball programs faced sanctions by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for using ineligible players.
Many of the problems will be solved over time with pleas to lawmakers and alumni. Administrators say the most pressing challenge is convincing parents and school counselors that Central State remains an academic alternative for students.
"The perception is still yesterday's bad news, not what's happening today," said Tedd Miller, vice president for enrollment management.
The extreme problems at Central State drew national attention, but many historically black colleges and universities have faced difficult times in recent years. In many cases, the missions they were founded to fulfill have become muddled as the end of segregation gave black students an array of educational choices.
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About Central State University
March 19, 1887: Founded as the Combined Normal and Industrial Department, a state-supported section of private Wilberforce University. 1941: Expanded into College of Education and Industrial Arts. 1947: Added liberal arts program; began operating independently of Wilberforce.
1951: Became Central State College.
1965: Named Central State University.
The school is recognized for having a nationally known water resources management program. Other programs include education, chemistry, manufacturing, engineering and music.
CSU is home to the Afro-American Museum and the International Center for Water Resources Development. |
"A lot of these institutions are having a hard time for one reason or another," said Harold Wenglinsky of the Policy Information Center of the Educational Testing Service.
His studies have found graduates of historically black colleges are more likely to move into science and engineering and tend to remain in graduate school more often than their counterparts who attend traditionally white institutions.
The reasons are difficult to pinpoint, Mr. Wenglinsky said, but he said those at black colleges "have a stronger sense of social cohesion, a greater comfort level."
Last year, student Alisia Smith kept hearing reports that the school might not open in the fall, that the financial problems were just too great.
But she never doubted she would be back in Wilberforce when school began. "I really didn't have any doubt in my mind, I just knew that Central State would be open," said Ms. Smith, 20, a junior from Muskegon, Mich. "Around here, it's a family environment."
CSU is trying to sell those sorts of attributes to prospective students, while sweetening the pitch with a more pragmatic argument -- cold cash.
To boost enrollment and continue CSU's mission as a school that offers an alternative for students, $6,600 scholarships are available to graduating high schoolers who have a 3.0 grade-point average, a 21 on their ACT exam or a 1000 on their SAT exam. Tuition, fees and housing at the school cost $8,000 annually. The school is also touting its mentor program, which pairs students with faculty or top administrators. "Those things make us a tremendous bargain," Dr. Miller said. Like other administrators, he is in his first year at the school, but he brought experience at another historically black university. Dr. Miller was assistant dean and director of admissions at Howard University Law School in Washington D.C., and a former director of admissions at Georgetown University Law Center.
President Garland is the only one of the new administrators who has a CSU degree. He earned a degree in 1971 after doing Marine combat duty in South Vietnam. He earned a law degree from Ohio State University and practiced law in Washington and Virginia before moving into administration at the University of Virginia.
"When I was a student here, this was a thriving, bustling place," he said. "We had 2,500 to 3,000 students, a lot of activities. I want to see us at least get back to that place where we have a critical mass of students."
He envisions building an urban education program, where teachers would be schooled in the best ways to teach, particularly science and technology, in an urban environment. "Not only will we just teach teachers, but we will also serve as a center for the study of urban education," Dr. Garland said.
To make that possible, he hopes to persuade lawmakers to undertake more than $30 million in construction over several years, building an education building, a science and technology center that could also house CSU's unique manufacturing engineering program and a student center.
The state's decision to return fiscal control of the university's operations to the president and board of trustees was a tangible sign that the worst problems are behind the school, Dr. Garland said.
"We are an important element in the public higher education system in Ohio. I think the General Assembly recognizes that we are important and that we bring something to the table."
