By Tristan Weisenbach
Editor-in-Chief
President Michael Bernstein’s LIONS Plan, which was developed over a year ago to address budget shortfalls, is essentially complete.
He told The Signal in an interview on May 7 that even though his administration “didn’t accomplish 100%” of what they had hoped, they were able to successfully balance the budget.
“The LIONS Plan worked, it accomplished what we needed it to,” Bernstein said.
Coordinated Action Teams, known as CATs, were created under the LIONS Plan to address specific campus policy areas. The CATs were tasked with producing reports on three areas: the College’s dashboard, student housing and the library.
The dashboard CAT has worked to develop both an internal and an external dashboard. Once they are fully operational in the near future, employees of the College can use the internal dashboard to find information about the institution’s operations, finances, academic outcomes and more. The external dashboard will provide the general public with information about the College’s performance statistics.
The library CAT has produced a blueprint for library renovations and is now working with a design consultant to create a construction schedule for renovations. Bernstein anticipates the schedule will be finalized by the end of the summer.
The renovations are expected to include updated study spaces, new technology and the inclusion of a spirit shop. However, because of the scale of the project, it is likely that renovations will need to occur throughout portions of the academic year.
“It's going to be a little tricky because you're basically changing a tire while the car is still going, right? Because we can't just close the library and say, ‘okay, you all go away for a year and a half while we renovate the library,’” Bernstein said. “We’re going to have to phase stuff.”
Bernstein also clarified that Barnes and Noble will continue to serve as the College’s spirit shop through at least part of the spring 2026 semester, when the library could be ready to house the new spirit shop. However, the timeline for this is not solidified.
The housing CAT group has mapped out a five-year plan to address the needs of the student housing experience, according to Bernstein. It will begin this summer with improvements to the electrical systems of Decker and Cromwell Halls, in order to equip the buildings with the infrastructure needed to install air conditioning next summer.
Regular wear-and-tear maintenance is also expected in a number of other residential buildings on campus this summer.
“Dorms — I mean, they get beat to hell every year, and not for bad reasons. Just a lot of heavy use,” Bernstein said. “So they have to be refurbished.”
Bernstein also anticipates that the Trenton State College Corporation, the College’s administrative entity that oversees real estate, will examine the property portfolio this summer and identify locations that are best suited to convert into off-campus student housing.
The corporation will also identify properties for employee housing, and real estate that the College can sell to generate revenue to fund housing improvements in the future.
Bernstein said he is optimistic about the proposals developed by each of the CAT groups, and hopes to share more specific details about their progress by the start of the academic year.
