BSU secretive about enrollment plan devised by former president

Last summer, Ferguson brought in Jimmy Jung, a former staffer at the University of Maine, as a $50,000 consultant to help create the plan, including proposed "changes/revisions to admissions criteria for Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 enrollment cycle, given enrollment targets."

Stricter admissions standards have been cited as one of the reasons for enrollment declines at Ball State in recent years.

When Ferguson was president at the University of Maine, Jung served as his vice president for enrollment management.

In early October of 2014, Jung reportedly left UMaine, about two months after Ferguson took over as president of Ball State. Jung was the third vice president to leave the school in less than a year, but the departures of the other two were announced in press releases that praised them for their service, the Bangor Daily News reported. The university did not say why Jung left, nor was his exit announced.

"Jimmy Jung is not working in his capacity as University of Maine's vice president for enrollment management," the newspaper quoted a university spokeswoman as saying in a story published Oct. 12, 2014. "The University of Maine does not comment on personnel matters."

"We never could answer why he left," Bangor Daily News metro editor Mike Dowd told The Star Press recently.

Questions were raised about Jung's status at UMaine after he spoke on Oct. 14, 2014, at the University of Hawaii as a candidate for a vice chancellor position. Some UH staff claimed Jung misrepresented himself as currently employed at UMaine, citing the Oct. 12 report in the Bangor Daily News.

"(My colleagues at the University of Maine) don't think that (Jimmy Jung) left in a positive light in that no one is providing any information," the student newspaper Ka Leo quoted an assistant vice chancellor for diversity at UH as saying. "So we don't know why. No one's saying." In the article published Dec. 10, 2014, the newspaper also quoted a UH administrator as saying, "There were some grave concerns that I had over him presenting himself in a position which he clearly was not in."

About two weeks after Ka Leo published the article, UMaine Provost Jeffrey Hecker wrote UH officials a letter stating that Jung had held the position of vice president for enrollment management at UMaine from July 1, 2012, until his resignation on Dec. 12, 2014. "In 2013, Dr. Jung helped UMaine register the largest first-year class in its history. His work also helped to reverse the declining student enrollment that preceded his arrival on campus. We thank Dr. Jung for his service to the UMaine community … "