In the Sunday, July 9, 2017, edition of the Idaho State Journal was a rather long, loquacious, polyannaish article, in which the administration of Idaho State University, including Laura Woodworth-Ney, Kent Tingey and perhaps Art Vailas once again tried to blame all of ISU’s enrollment declines and budget shortfalls on the departure of the large contingency of students from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The Vailas administration acknowledged a 4.3 percent drop in total enrollment for last semester and a projected 4.7 percent drop for the fall 2017 semester.

There was no mention of the nearly 30 percent six-year drop in Idaho students, going, according to ISU’s estimates, from 8,860 students in spring 2011 to 6,362 in spring 2017. And why are so many East Idaho students choosing not to attend ISU?

The departure of most of ISU’s Kuwaiti and Saudi students began in 2015, according to The New York Times, and was essentially finished by spring 2016.

It’s my understanding that some of these Middle Eastern students were supposed to be attending ISU but had never actually been on campus. Could this be what Homeland Security was investigating at our university?

Prior to the March 2016 publication of a front-page New York Times article chronicling the problems experienced by ISU and its Middle Eastern students, the administrator in charge of the foreign student program left her position. Her husband, the university’s financial VP, was put on “paid personal leave” of $17,000-plus per month in the summer of 2016.

Great ways to advertise the university and to save money!

Other statements about enrollment in the Journal article included: “Compared to the year prior, ISU’s full time graduate student enrollment during the spring of 2017 increased by 3.2 percent.” But ISU’s Enrollment Snapshot for the fall 2017 semester predicts a decrease of 95 graduate students — a 10.8 percent decline. Why can’t ISU’s administration own up to the whole story? When will ISU get a new president and a new administration, a president and administrators who are here for the good of ISU, not for their own selfish self-interest?

Although about a third of the Journal article related to the Middle Eastern students/enrollment, there are other items that need clarification (which I know we will not get from ISU’s administration).

Why are there 37 unfilled full-time positions? Where did these professors and teachers go and why? ISU Interim Chief Financial Officer Brian Hickenlooper is quoted as saying “there weren’t necessarily any layoffs,” but he made no comment as to why there were 37 unfilled full-time positions. Did these positions just evaporate? Did they disappear while someone was still filling them leaving that person with no job or did the president and his administration make things so uninviting, so onerous, that the profs left ISU to find a position elsewhere, at a university where they had some voice in how things were run and where they could debate differences of opinion without fear of retribution.

In the Journal article there was one mention of ISU’s Enrollment Snapshot report noting the expected 4.7 percent drop in total student enrollment for the fall 2017.

Here are a few other ISU items from a recent printing of that snapshot document, listed by college for the fall semester: College of Business enrollment expected to be down 11.3 percent, College of Education expected to be down 4.1 percent, Health Sciences down 6 percent, Science and Engineering down 6.5 percent, College of Technology and graduate school both down 10.8 percent. The only ISU college with a projected increase is Arts and Letters, expected to be up 8.1 percent. The College of Arts and Letters must be doing something that the rest of the colleges are not.

Apparently money is being spent on recruitment. Lots of money has also been spent on football. Why isn’t ISU getting better results for either of these things?

My conversations with high school seniors, advisors and principals highlight two important themes: ISU’s lack of personal contact (except apparently from the College of Arts and Letters) and the long delays from the admission and application processing office with no communication to the applicant. High school students have grown up with instant internet responses. After waiting three or four weeks with no reply from ISU, many of these young people give up, get a job or go elsewhere.

It takes a lot more than money to solve the six year loss of nearly 30 percent of ISU’s in-state students. For reasons completely unclear, the Vailas administration, especially Dr. Vailas himself, has over and over again demonstrated an aversion to personal contact. The example is set by this “invisible president” who is noted for his non-engagement with ISU, with Pocatello, with just about everyone. Perhaps he is more visible in Meridian.

The entire Journal article glosses over the big problems, which include ISU’s decreasing Southeast Idaho enrollment, the loss of excellent faculty members, the ongoing rift between the faculty and the president, and many other issues that threaten the long and short term health of our university.

It seems as if Dr. Vailas adheres to the ancient Roman proverb, “Omne Tacto Calamitas Sunt.” Translated it means “All I touch turns to disaster.”

The Vailas administration seems to think that by ignoring the problems, they will just go away.

But all of these shortcomings are important when it comes to recruiting students and faculty, and certainly they will still be important on the happy day when ISU can initiate a search for a new president.

The gist of the Journal article was quite “Pollyannaish.” Don’t worry about the sagging enrollment or the budget shortfalls or the rest of the problems; everything will be all right.

But there was no mention of solutions. And where is Idaho’s State Board of Education? Do they even realize that the enrollment at ISU has plummeted? And that alumni and donors are taking their business elsewhere?

Do they have any cognizance of ISU’s problems? Are they blinded by their own arrogance or are they just sitting on their hands following directions from Boise? As A.E. Houssman said, “The house of delusions is easy to build but difficult to maintain.”

Dr. William L. Brydon is a Pocatello native and Idaho State University graduate.