Tuesday in the Multipurpose Room of the Busch Student Center,
University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., delivered the annual
“State of the University” address. According to Biondi, the state
of Saint Louis University is strong.

The first item on the docket for Biondi was addressing the
University’s finances. SLU recently undertook a massive project of
balancing the budget in the face of a potential $9 million
shortfall for the 13 University colleges and schools and another $5
million deficit for the University Medical Group.

The resulting cuts affected almost every department of the
University, some more than others; however, Biondi reiterated that
the cuts were necessary and were not only made with an eye on next
year, but also with a look to the future.

“We did what needed to be done in order to assure our continued
fiscal security,” Biondi said.

“Yes, budgets were trimmed. Yes, regrettably, some positions
were eliminated. These were not easy decisions to make, nor were
they made lightly without any regard to the people or programs that
they would affect.”

However, while the cuts have had a noticeable effect on the
Saint Louis University community, Biondi made sure to point out
that SLU is much better off financially than many other private
universities, such as Notre Dame, Stanford and Yale, who are all
having to cut much deeper from their budgets than SLU and are even,
having to stop some campus construction and other infrastructure
projects indefinitely.

Then, moving from the budget cuts to the Campaign for Saint
Louis University, Biondi touched upon the massive fund-raising
efforts that have been underway the past two years and their
current status.

Of the $300 million SLU projected it would take to complete all
of the phases and facets of the capital campaign, $200 million of
it has already been pledged, which, as Biondi pointed out, was well
over two-thirds of the way to their goal.

The pledges will be used for many different structural projects,
including building the new on-campus arena and the state-of-the-art
research center that will be located on the medical campus. Biondi
said the research building is his top priority.

Biondi was also very pleased to announce that the University had
raised an unprecedented $126 million for individual student
scholarships and student aid.

Among the many other accomplishments Biondi discussed were the
completed renovation of the Busch Student Center, the incoming
freshman class, which has a cumulative GPA of over 3.5 and an
average ACT score of 26.1, and the many different accolades and
accomplishments of SLU students. Biondi showed how SLU had been
nationally recognized by the U.S. News and World Report yet again
this year in many areas, including recognizing the School of Law’s
health law studies program as the best in the country, as well as
recognizing the business school’s entrepreneurship program and the
School of Medicine’s geriatrics division among the best in the
country. SLU was also once again rated as a best buy.

In closing out his speech, Biondi reiterated the past year’s
accomplishments.

He also addressed a concern in the SLU community about shared
governance, stating that it was a shame that the issue has been
brought up over a work of art.