TU President Gives Fall Address

A tuition increase, new construction and outreach efforts were among the topics highlighted in Towson University President Robert L. Caret's annual fall address to the university community on Tuesday.

Caret began with the bad news, as the university slashes four percent from its fiscal 2011 budget to prepare for cuts in the following year. Caret said the university will push for a two to three percent tuition hike, after a four-year state tuition freeze ended earlier this year.

"After the election is over, we will wait, we will watch and we will find out what happens," he said.

The university just completed a five-year plan of growth, outreach and engagement goals and at the Tuesday speech, Caret previewed aspects of a new plan aimed for 2016. Why 2016? It's TU's 150th birthday and, as Caret joked, "we were getting tired of hearing [the phrase] '2020 vision.'"

The 2016 goals, which Caret called "evolving," tackle community relations, new construction, faculty development and athletics, among other things. Though Caret did not give specific numbers, he said the halt in growth caused by the recent recession was only temporary.

"The growth has not stopped; it has just slowed," he said.

After his prepared remarks, Caret showed the (fake) news headlines of 2016, which are shown here.