North Dakota State U. holds off on closing campus childcare center, which serves children of faculty and staff
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead
March 11, 2011
North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani announced late Thursday that he will delay closing the campus child care center and ask faculty leaders to find a permanent solution.
The announcement just before 10 p.m. Thursday came after Bresciani received numerous pleas from parents and faculty groups on campus and while employees were planning a rally to show support for the center.
On Wednesday, officials announced that the Center for Child Development would close in June because NDSU is in a dire financial situation and the program is not central to the academic mission.
Bresciani, who testified at the state Capitol on Thursday about NDSU’s budget, said in a statement that legislators expressed concerns, support and flexibility regarding the decision.
Bresciani said he will direct campus groups to identify a viable financial means to delay the closing of the center until 2012.
“During the more extended period, I will return the situation to the faculty leaders who originally forwarded the closure recommendation to me, and ask them to take responsibility for permanently resolving the matter,” Bresciani said in the statement.
The center serves 38 children of faculty and staff.
