As the 2024-2025 academic year draws to a close, California Lutheran University Interim President John Nunes is approximately half way through his two-year interim contract.
Chair of the university’s Board of Regents Ann Boynton (‘83) said that within the “next month,” the board will announce if they plan to extend Nunes’ interim contract, enter into contract negotiations, or launch a nationwide presidential search.
“The only reason we’re here, anyone who’s in administration or administrative leadership or staff, is only here because of our mission and our students,” Nunes said.
Boynton said that the board’s areas of focus for President Nunes were campus culture, budget, and community trust and fundraising. According to Boynton, Nunes has done an exceptional job addressing those areas.
“From the board perspective, we have greatly appreciated his level of candor and candidness with us about the challenges the campus is facing,” Boynton said.
In a town hall meeting on Feb. 26, Interim Vice President for Administration and Finance Brian Fahnestock estimated that the university would end the fiscal year with a $5.2 million deficit. As of April, Boynton said that the deficit will be more than $5.2 million.
Boynton said the difficulties Cal Lutheran is facing are not unusual,“everybody is struggling.”
According to Boynton, Nunes’ commitment to Cal Lutheran students is “unwavering” and he is committed to making sure the university doesn’t just survive, but thrive in the future.
In 2021, Nunes’ previous institution, Concordia College, located in Bronxville, New York, ceased all operations and sold its campus to Iona College, according to Inside Higher Ed. Nunes described this experience as the “most devastating” professional experience of his life.
“What I endured through that, although traumatic for me, I believe has positioned me well to understand the dynamics of what a school looks like when it’s not operating in a healthy and sustainable way,” Nunes said.
Boynton said that Nunes’ experience, in regards to Concordia’s difficulties, is something Cal Lutheran is very lucky to have.
“In all trauma like that, in anything that painful, there is tremendous education about what to do, and a president, or interim president, who hadn’t had that experience, I don’t think would be as well positioned to help us navigate through the work that has to come,” Boynton said.
Nunes said Cal Lutheran is nowhere near the situation that Concordia College faced when they decided to cease operations in 2021.
“We’ve got lots of assets all right, we’ve got a desirable location, we’ve got a really motivated faculty and staff, their [Concordia’s] faculty and staff was pretty demoralized,” Nunes said. “They had cut, cut, cut, cut, cut to try to save.”
Boynton said Cal Lutheran has seen the challenges the campus is facing and has the time to address them, a luxury that many universities facing similar challenges don’t have.
Nunes said making financial cuts alone will not be the solution to Cal Lutheran’s current financial situation and that the university must invest in certain areas while cutting in others.
“We’re going to be investing in certain areas, and we’re gonna be hiring in certain areas and we’re gonna be cutting in other areas and sunsetting in other areas,” Nunes said.
Considering the university’s current financial issues, Nunes said that the hiring of new faculty and staff could come as a shock to some. Nunes described a “one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake” approach to the upcoming year.
“We can no longer simply trim and expect we’re gonna get out of the situation we’re in. It really is a reimagining of who we are as a university, how we relate to each other, ’How do we sell the value proposition of what we are?’ I think John is ready to take that challenge on,” Boynton said.
In December, Nunes appointed Laureen Hill (‘83) as executive partner for strategic planning and business development. In addition to Hill, Nunes appointed Fahnestock as interim vice president for administration and finance in January. Nunes described these two additions to his presidential Cabinet as “two of the greatest hires of my life.”
“John [Nunes] ultimately has the responsibility and the ownership of all the decisions we make, but it’s a very distributed kind of leadership model, and he’s using the talent he has,” Hill said.
Boynton said the board has received positive feedback from members of the campus community surrounding Nunes’ time on campus. According to the feedback, people feel more engaged in conversations surrounding the university’s current challenges due to this increase in clarity and transparency.
“Across the campus, more, we hear anecdotally, people are much more engaged, that they feel like they are included more in conversations, they’ve appreciated the transparency, even though sometimes it’s challenging, around budget in particular,” Boynton said.
Hill said Fahnestock has “provided clarity we’ve never had” in regards to the university’s current financial situation, which has given her hope for Cal Lutheran’s financial future. Hill compared the university’s current position to that of the Titanic, yet instead of hitting the iceberg, Nunes and the board have time to “fundamentally turn the boat.”
“These are hires that will help us to not only cut, but will help us to invest well into the future,” Nunes said.
When he begins the second year of his interim contract, Nunes said the Cal Lutheran community can expect to see less of him on campus as he plans on spending 50% of his time off campus. Nunes said he plans on looking for additional off campus fundrasing opportunities, on both the local and national level.
“One of the goals I want to, and the board needs to approve it, but one of the goals I have is for more fundraising, like, bringing in more money and more partnerships with corporations and foundations,” Nunes said.
Earlier in the spring 2025 semester, Nunes said that he did not believe everyone at Cal Lutheran knew their role in the university’s mission. Nunes also said he did not do enough to increase the knowledge of the university’s mission on campus. Apart from goals to increase the presence of the university’s mission on campus, Nunes said he believes there were a myriad of things he could and should have done. Such as showing how feedback is woven into the decisions made by university administration.
“Everyone has to see their role in accomplishing the goal, every single person on campus,” Nunes said.
According to Nunes, the university is not good at bragging about itself in a healthy way.
“Candidly, at the end of the day it’s about two things, people– and we’ve got good people- and money, and we don’t have enough good money,” Nunes said.
Hill said Nunes’ ability to build connections and bridges with community members both on and off campus is his “superpower.”
“I am a true believer in the mission of Cal Lu and that we will get through this,” Nunes said.
