03/06/2025
By Michele Jacklin
In a hearing before state legislators last month, Terrence Cheng, chancellor of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system, apologized again and again. He apologized for inappropriate spending and misuse of a state credit card during his three-year tenure. He apologized for indiscretions that included acceptance of a hefty moving allowance without having moved.
He apologized for expensive meals and pricey bottles of wine, flowers and room service, clothing, chauffeured trips and tickets to a gala and sporting events.
But the people Cheng should have apologized to are the students who attend one of CSCU’s four universities and 12 community college campuses. Students who have faced soaring tuition costs while cafeterias, libraries and career readiness offices have been closed. Students who have had to contend with reduced library hours and cuts in tutoring and disability services.
At the hearing, Cheng was contrite. “It looks bad,” said the apparently tone-deaf chancellor, who acknowledged that he had made “mistakes.” Perhaps Cheng, whose annual salary and benefits exceed $450,000, thought he would never get caught.
But thanks to enterprising journalists, who last fall uncovered Cheng’s egregious misconduct, the public knows about his profligate spending.
See the full column in the Connecticut Mirror here.