With concerns about potential cuts on the horizon amidst federal policy changes, criticism continues regarding the future of former Connecticut State Colleges and Universities former Chancellor Terrence Cheng after revelations of improper spending.
The Board of Regents and Cheng reached an agreement that beginning this month Cheng would step down from his role as CSCU chancellor. The announcement was made at the end of April.
With a year left on his contract, the Board agreed Cheng will take on a new role of strategic advisor in which he will continue to receive a base salary of $442,187 until his contract ends on June 30, 2026.
“It is disconcerting that this much money is even being spent at the administrative level to begin with,” said Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-Trumbull, who serves as vice chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.
“And that is taking away and distracting from all of the amazing work that is happening on campuses. This is the first start for so many students, particularly students who are first generation students, students of color, students from underserved communities. The CSUs and the CT state community colleges system — this is the starting point and these students then go on to contribute to the state in very many meaningful ways. Many of them are in the legislature.”
She added that the situation distracts from important issues with the system and creates the appearance of improper spending.
“When it comes to the department level, faculty level, student programming level, I don’t think there is any waste,” she said. “There was no documented misuse of funds at all. All of the documented misuse was at the administrative level.”
Samantha Norton, CSCU spokesperson, said in an email that an understanding was reached between the Board and Cheng not to extend the contract beyond its original term.
“Mr. Cheng’s contract is being honored through its end date,” Norton said.
She added that as strategic advisor Cheng will “focus on identifying national practices, engaging peer systems across the country and developing actionable recommendations for CSCU in key priority areas identified by the Board such as early college models, workforce development strategies, state higher education funding models and system office structure, function and alignment.”
A request to speak with Board Chairman Marty Guay concerning the issue of Cheng’s contract was declined.
“I spoke with the chairman and he asked that I provide comment on behalf of the Board as the spokesperson,” Norton said in an email.
On June 26, the Board announced the appointment of O. John Maduko as interim chancellor of the CSCU system. He most recently served as president of Connecticut State Community College, the largest community college in New England.
Questions surrounding the contract
New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, a member of the Board of Regents who is exploring a 2026 bid for governor, said Cheng’s new role is an “affront to Connecticut taxpayers.
“It is a shame that former Chancellor Cheng is protected by a contract that essentially rewards past mismanagement,” Stewart said in a statement. “The same salary for less work is troubling, all while hardworking families and students across this state are making tough decisions to make ends meet at the end of each month.
“Allowing this to happen without real accountability or a plan to prevent this type of contract abuse in the future proves that aspects of the CSCU system, much aspects of the broader state government, are detached from the hard realities people across our state face everyday.”
State Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield also chided the Board of Regents’ decision.
“It is a complete waste of taxpayer money,” he said. “The Board of Regents is not being transparent with their student body and with the taxpayers of this state. This is a blatant waste of taxpayer and tuition funds.”
Madeline St. Amour, director of communications for the Connecticut State Universities American Association of University Professors said the union was disappointed “that during this time of immense need our board has chosen to retain the previous chancellor for nearly half a million dollars.”
Amour said the CSCUs are facing tremendous cuts.
“Federal policy changes could greatly impact our enrollment,” she said. “Federal cuts mean we could lose important programs that provide academic and social supports. The state has flat-funded public higher education for years, and underfunded it when accounting for inflation. Unless the governor and legislative leaders address our funding needs before the next legislative session, the CSCUs will be unable to make up for the federal cuts.
St. Amour continued: “The students will be the ones to pay. They will lose financial aid, academic support, faculty mentorship and more.”
Norton said HR 1, the federal budget and policy package “reshapes financial aid, student loan programs and institutional accountability across higher education.
“This legislation marks a shift from decades of incremental policy changes by expanding access to short-term, workforce-focused programs while introducing new borrowing limits, repayment structures, and accountability measures that could affect student access and introduce additional institutional burdens,” Norton said.
She said CSCU is engaging with internal and external experts, national associations and federal and state partners to assess the “law’s implications and help shape our response.”
In June the CSCU Board of Regents unanimously voted to approve its $1.2 billion budget, using $162.4 million in reserves to balance its spending plan.
Still, the state colleges and universities system, which includes its 12 community college campuses and four regional universities, must make up $39 million in spending cuts for fiscal year 2026 to compensate for the expiration of one-time funding, inflation, decreased state funding and limited revenue growth from tuition and fees.
What remains unclear is how the cuts, which are at the discretion of the individual colleges’ leaders, may impact the schools.
Expensive meals and chauffeured rides
A December 2024 CT Insider report on Cheng’s spending found records of expensive meals including $60 steaks, $490 chauffeured rides and more. Cheng was also given more than $21,000 to relocate from New York City to Connecticut but reportedly never made the move.
In response, Gov. Ned Lamont requested state Comptroller Sean Scanlon complete an audit of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities leadership expenses and credit use, which confirmed misspending of thousands of dollars on food, entertainment and transportation by nearly all the campus presidents, including Cheng.
“Our audit identifies several transactions by certain university leadership that did not have adequate documentation or did not follow university policies,” Scanlon wrote in the report in December 2024. “Additionally, our review of state vehicles assigned to leadership staff found instances of missing logs and potential violations of state procedures regarding vehicle usage.”
Scanlon said further that the “audit also concludes CSCU lacks a comprehensive, uniform purchasing policy that should provide sufficient internal controls against misuse.”
Republicans called for Cheng’s resignation.
Harding told the Courant this week that Cheng admittedly used his purchase card in “unauthorized manners, buying alcohol, hotel trips, expensive travel, delivery service, dry cleaning services.
“All unauthorized expenses on the taxpayer dime,” he said. “That is a fireable offense. All of those things. One incident of those is a fireable offense. A compilation of them that totals nearly $30,000 over a short period of time is absolutely a fireable offense. No contract says you can do whatever you want in your particular employment and we have to retain you. I think by firing Chancellor Cheng it would have sent the right message for the state that is unacceptable behavior by our state employees. This is not the only department or agency that has P-Cards.”
Harding continued: “By removing him from this position they basically admitted they should have fired him.”
“It is an absolutely irresponsible decision by the Board of Regents and a real slap to the student body and to the taxpayers in the state,” he said.
Cheng in a special forum to review CSCU spending in February apologized for his actions and told lawmakers that his office is changing policies to ensure greater transparency in the use of state-paid purchasing cards.
“I acknowledge that my actions have raised serious concerns about financial oversight and transparency,” he told lawmakers at a special forum to review the spending. “For this I take personal responsibility and I am extremely, extremely sorry. I also want to apologize to members of the General Assembly who have consistently supported our system and our students …”
The comptroller recommended a stronger P-card policy with “more checks and balances, greater enforcement mechanisms and more stringent reporting requirements to ensure appropriate spending.”
“In conclusion, while not technically violating state or university policy, we found that, in the absence of sound, comprehensive policies, the Chancellor utilized poor judgement when making P-Card purchases that were especially troubling given the financial stress on the CSCU system,” the audit found.
Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford, who serves on the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, said he did not think that it is an ideal situation for everyone in terms of leadership and the CSCU system.
“There could have been a way to have a more clean-cut transition,” he said.
In the same vein, Paris said the audit showed that “there was no wrongdoing that was committed.”
“The chancellor’s contract was not renewed,” he said. “We had to maintain the contract we made with him.”
Beginning in February, CSCU “implemented a new centralized P-Card policy,” according to Norton.
“Key provisions of the new P-Card policy include standardized limits and controls; prohibited and acceptable purchases; digital record keeping and systemwide oversight,” Norton said. “To date, CSCU has decreased the number of P-Cards across the system by approximately 20%.”
Further, the legislature passed SB 1468 that requires that any new procedures on state agency purchasing card use to “include certain provisions such as specifying the types of transactions allowed, limits on certain types of purchases and deadline requirements for submitting receipts,” Norton added.
Gov. Ned Lamont signed the legislation on July 8.