When George Ross assumed duties as vice president of Finance and Administrative Services last year amid CMU’s budget crisis, he didn’t enter the greatest financial situation.

But after recent reports on the grim financial status of Clark Atlanta University, where Ross was executive vice president, it appears leaving Atlanta might have been a smart decision.

As the university’s chief financial officer, Ross is responsible for the management of the university’s financial and physical resources.

Ross said he would not comment on the financial status of Clark Atlanta or how it has changed over the past year, but said it was fine when he left and he had no indication the school was struggling.

“That was not the situation when I left at Clark Atlanta,” he said. “I had a clean audit opinion and it was fine (when I left).”

Ross said he went through four audits during his three and a half years at Clark Atlanta.

He said he knew entering Clark Atlanta he would be facing an already troubled situation, but he turned that around.

“But did I do that by myself? Of course I didn’t. I had to bring people in,” he said. “I don’t think any one individual makes that kind of difference.”

Previous to his position at Clark Atlanta, he was executive vice chancellor and chief financial officer at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

“We have major budget challenges in Michigan, but frankly, compared to what I saw at a private institution in Atlanta and a public institution in Tennessee, we are in a better position (at CMU),” he said.

But it’s still a tough position, Ross said.

“The chief financial officer position is very tough given the state of the economy,” he said. “It’s not the fault of Mount Pleasant or Michigan. It’s not even a national fault. The global economy is challenging right now, so yeah, it’s a tough position.”

Ross said he had similar duties at both UT Chattanooga and Clark Atlanta, but the similarities between the schools end there.

“Clark Atlanta, like other private institutions, had a tougher cash flow situation than Central Michigan University,” he said. “CMU is a public university, so how you deal with finances is different.”

Clark Atlanta Director of Communications Sheila Jack said because Clark Atlanta is a historically black school, the financial situation is not a simple one.

“There’s a complex confluence of indicators,” she said. “The situation is so complex here because historically black colleges are in trouble nationwide.”

Jack said there also are circumstances of economics and those unique to the university that have contributed to the school’s financial woes.

The university was consolidated in 1988 when Clark College and Atlanta University joined, because they were both struggling financially.

Several administrative changes were made at the university, when Walter Broadnax replaced Thomas Cole as university president in August 2002, Jack said.

Arthur Gunn, Clark Atlanta School of Library and Information Studies dean, said there is no doubt that Clark Atlanta is struggling financially and it may be the fault of the old administration.

“Meetings that I’ve been party to in which this has been discussed suggest the previous administration overstated the income of the university and in overstating the income it overspent,” he said.

Jack said Clark Atlanta overspent its $100 million budget by $7.5 million last year. The school has no reserves and a long-term debt of about $55 million.

So far, 112 administrative positions have been abolished, she said. The layoffs will save the university $3.4 million annually in salary and benefits.

The school also cut $439,000 in athletic scholarships, Jack said.

“Right now, the university is going through strengthening and repositioning,” she said. “It’s a lot of hard work to maneuver within a very tricky economy.”

Ross said his reasons for leaving Clark Atlanta were not because of administrative changes or financial problems, but rather based on persistent recruiting efforts by CMU.

“After interviewing, I saw an opportunity to be here,” he said. “I was recruited heavily, so that’s why I left.”

Ross said those types of recruiting efforts have led him to change jobs many times.

“I left UT Chattanooga because I was recruited to Clark Atlanta. I left Clark Atlanta because I was recruited to CMU,” he said.

While at UT Chattanooga, Ross said he also faced financial problems because Tennessee does not have an income tax and funding for higher education was based on sales tax.

“In the economy in general, sales went down and sales tax revenue declined and higher education funding was reduced,” he said.

Ross said he had to make budget cuts three times in his four years at UT Chattanooga, because funding was so low. He said he saw a better situation at Clark Atlanta and an even better situation at CMU and that is why he has made the choices he has.

“My experience at Central Michigan, as with any other institution, is you make enemies because you have to make decisions,” Ross said. “As I get more involved, day-to-day, when we make a decision and people disagree, they will say negative things and that comes with the position. When you make some decisions you make some people unhappy.”