Boren says OU’s debt is comparable

NORMAN — University of Oklahoma President David Boren issued a statement Wednesday about OU’s financial status.

“Some recent reports about the university’s financial position deserve to be clarified and put in context,” Boren’s said.

The statement followed remarks his successor made Tuesday during a meeting of the OU Board of Regents.

Jim Gallogly, who becomes OU president July 1, said he

spent months sorting out the financials of the university “and frankly I’m not pleased with what I have found.” Gallogly said expenses are outpacing income by $36 million each year and the Norman campus is nearly $1 billion in debt.

“While true that OU’s indebtedness is large, it is bonded indebtedness for physical facilities,” Boren said Wednesday.

“Bonds are used very carefully to finance facilities that are needed for our core mission and to avoid deferred maintenance on aging facilities. Private gifts have been raised to cover a substantial part of the cost of these projects,” he said.

“OU’s required annual debt service payments represent only approximately 6 percent of its total operating revenue. Neither its total debt outstanding nor its underlying funding sources are unusual.”

The amount of debt is similar in scope to Oklahoma State University and similarly rated public universities, particularly those that do not receive capital

appropriations from their state government, Boren said.

The threat to the university’s well-being is lack of adequate public support, he said.

“It is clear that no public college or university can maintain the excellence that we have achieved unless state funding returns to normal,” Boren said.

“There is no doubt that the strengths of our educational system cannot be maintained unless our elected officials begin to reinvest in it. We all need to help my successor at OU obtain the necessary public support to build a strong future.”

Gallogly said Tuesday that OU needs to “put our house in order” before asking the Legislature for more money.

“We’re going to be giving our Legislature new positive reasons to invest in the University of Oklahoma, with the recognition that we are first and foremost going to be efficient,” he said.

“We have a university that truly is the pride of the state of Oklahoma,” he said, “and I am extremely, extremely proud to serve this university starting on July 1.”