WESTFIELD – The withholding of state funds to Westfield State University as a result of the ongoing investigation into the spending practices of University President Dr. Evan Dobelle appears to be over.
Yesterday, Westfield State University’s Acting President Dr. Elizabeth Preston met with Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland, who reaffirmed his support for the students, faculty and staff of Westfield State by releasing $195,444 in funding to the institution.
The funding will arrive in the form of two Vision Project Performance Incentive Fund grants.
The first grant of $97,762 will go towards supporting the second year of work to develop the Institute for Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, while a second grant of $97,682 will fund the first of a three-year plan to jump-start a comprehensive, data-driven student retention initiative.
The Institute for Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement is an organized, formalized civic engagement program that will enable the university and its community partners to “build educational tools designed to provide students with skills to become agents of change in their own lives and communities.”
According to the University, the goal of the second grant is to “enhance success for Westfield State’s first-year and transfer students and retain them to graduation.”
The school claims that 91 percent of students return after their first semester, with 79 percent remain for the second year, with a six-year graduation rate of 59 percent.
“We appreciate this vote of confidence in our university and especially in our people and our programs.” said Preston in a statement. “We are eager to move forward with the initiatives this money will fund and to continue the important work of educating students that we do every day.”
According to the university, Commissioner Freeland also confirmed that match funding for a system-wide state university student internship program is pending release by the Department of Administration and Finance, and is on track for Westfield State.
Earlier yesterday, Freeland spoke to the media in Springfield regarding the situation at Westfield State, and touched upon his freezing of funds to the school.
“We chose our words very carefully, and the words we used were review and suspend, not cancel,” said Freeland, who served as President of Northeastern University from 1996 to 2006.
He added that the freezing was done “to assure the proper stewardship of state funds.”
