At this moment, Shiller did not know that Raven had already left with Killer Croc; he had another troublesome issue to fret over.
Of course, it was not the students' academics, for he was already accustomed to their constant headache.
Gotham University's student recruitment had improved significantly, and in recent years, some young people chasing the latest trends had applied to the university out of curiosity for the city. With the city's security situation proven to be on the mend at the concert, there were some achievements. However, the average students with mediocre resumes saw an opportunity to venture into the big cities on the East Coast and chose this seemingly prestigious university, which in reality did not attract many non-local students.
Theoretically, there is always a loophole to be exploited, and ever since people realized that Gotham University had strong faculty and teaching conditions, along with high rankings, but was under-enrolled due to the city's special nature — resulting in many available spots and lenient admissions — a lot of people blindly followed suit.
Although this group couldn't be considered top-quality student recruitment, as most were from less developed towns in the Mid-West, they were indeed somewhat better than the local students from Gotham, at least genuinely and earnestly studying legitimate knowledge.
Generally speaking, Gotham University's humanities and social sciences departments were more famous than the science and engineering departments, of course, except for the renowned law and medical schools, which operated as independent systems and were not under discussion here.
Shiller himself had become a figurehead for attracting students to Gotham University. Many had applied to this school, following his reputation, planning to study all the way from undergraduate to Ph.D. and earn the title of a renowned psychologist's disciple, establishing a foundation for becoming a psychological doctor.
The problem was that the vast majority were just average people who had to consider their meals, and most naturally did not have the talent to become psychologists. It would be excellent if they could become a psychological counselor, and only the relatively outstanding ones could run their own private clinics. Otherwise, most were destined to work at counseling organizations all their lives.
Having Shiller's name alone could not give them an edge in job hunting, so Shiller always taught undergraduate courses, at times teaching more than 70 hours a week in basic psychology, as this was the most important course in practical applications.
The short essays collected today finally showed some improvement; in a class, at least five or six passable papers could be selected, with more than a dozen written earnestly, increasingly resembling a normal university.
Just now, Shiller was in a good mood. He had just finished his last afternoon class and was ready to go to the cafeteria for something to eat.
It's a tradition in America to have a simple lunch and a hearty dinner; the same applies to schools, usually bringing one's lunch or buying a sandwich at noon and going to the regular staff restaurant for dinner.
As soon as Shiller entered the staff cafeteria, he saw the sports department Professor sitting by the window waving at him. This man was a leading figure in the Gotham University sports department, a former star football player whose team had won the Super Bowl, and he had produced relatively impressive results while coaching in Chicago before earning his physical education license due to injuries.
In fact, this man was also a star coach at Metropolitan University, but because he was too straightforward and offended some people, he couldn't continue there and didn't want to stray too far from home, so he came to Gotham.
He had arrived much later than Shiller, so he had come at a better time; since his arrival, security had continually improved, and although he was just an average outsider with a bad temper, he had still managed to survive till today.
Shiller got along quite well with him, mainly because Gotham University's football team had achieved new heights under his leadership and had even defeated the teams from Chicago University, which were long-established powerhouses on the East Coast.
To help Gotham University enter the Ivy League, Shiller occasionally went to watch football games. After watching a lot, he began to understand them, and the coach thought that Shiller was a real football fan, always enthusiastically explaining the rules and competition system to him. Thus, the two were very familiar with each other.
"What's up, Vincent?" Shiller sat down, signaling to the waiter to join their tables. As the waiter was about to remind him of other available seats, Shiller waved him off, indicating it was not necessary.
After sitting down, Shiller surveyed the environment of the restaurant, which was located on the third floor of the exhibition area, boasting a whole curved wall of floor-to-ceiling windows offering a view over the entire stadium and most of the campus. At that moment, the women's track team was training on the field.
The restaurant was many times larger than the old-fashioned staff cafeteria, with two levels and a spacious, bright international kitchen that provided delicacies from over a dozen countries.
The robust man known as Vincent, however, seemed out of sorts and unwilling to praise the new cafeteria. He squeezed his muscular frame into a small chair, arms resting on the table, and sighed deeply, apparently uncertain how to start.
"What's the matter?" asked Shiller, taking a sip of water, "Have you run into some trouble?"
"Ah, no, that's not it." Vincent, afraid of being misunderstood, gestured with his hands and said, "The East Coast United Cup has been canceled, and the sponsorship for the All-America College Football Game has dropped to a dangerous level. More importantly, we don't have the money for 'paycheck games' anymore."
Shiller frowned, understanding what Vincent meant by "paycheck games." Simply put, it's when one university invites another to play a game and pays the invited team.
Gotham University's football team used to be decently ranked nationally but wasn't notable on the East Coast, making it a relatively weaker team. Many teams liked to invite Gotham University's team for games because they could earn ticket sales by hosting, and winning the game greatly promoted their own university and city, making it a guaranteed profit.
Back then, not only did the football team not cost money, but it also made money for the school, since one invitation game could bring in several hundred thousand US dollars, which was considered a hefty appearance fee at that time. If invited twice a year, the entire sports department's budget was secured.
However, as the team's strength grew stronger and stronger, let alone those in-state universities, even the traditional powerhouses on the East Coast grew wary of inviting Gotham University to play. After all, the last time Metropolitan University reluctantly issued an invitation, they ended up being humiliated 56:42 on their home turf, a loss that was felt acutely.
Gotham University also invited some weaker in-state teams to play and even leveraged the publicity from concerts to build a substantial fan base. Of course, they had to write several sizable checks, with total expenditures exceeding 2 million US Dollars.
But at that time, they received generous sponsorships and had the backing of Wayne Enterprises. Roy was willing to invest in any project that promoted the city. Gotham University could indeed be described as wealthy and extravagant.
The game results were impressive too, with victories by large margins and numerous exciting plays. They cultivated some promising young stars. Although ticket sales were mediocre, the events served their promotional purpose effectively.
But times had changed, Vincent complained, "Wayne Enterprises has reduced its sponsorship for all external projects, and the city government is no longer providing as much funding. All academic staff at the university have taken a pay cut. Even if we had the money, how could we dare to spend hundreds of thousands of US Dollars on games?"
Shiller nodded; he understood. The university had always favored the sports department financially, enabling it to not only earn money and promote the university but also command a strong appeal among the youth—never underestimate the power of football games to attract teenagers.
In an era with limited entertainment options and video games not particularly widespread, watching football games was one of the most important recreational activities for the vast majority of youth. Even Pamela, who normally showed no interest in sports, could talk at length about football.
Because if you didn't follow it, you'd have no one to hang out with at bars, nothing to talk about at parties, and even struggle for small talk with the mailman delivering letters to your yard.
So the sports department had always been quite well-off, with plenty of discretionary funds. And even to this date, they should still be the richest department; the problem was they couldn't spend the money.
Now that everyone's salary had been cut by 30%, how could they justify writing checks for hundreds of thousands of US Dollars to other schools? How could the other academic staff possibly be happy about it?
Yet if they didn't invite other teams for games, they couldn't generate excitement or ticket revenue. Absorbing costs without income wasn't sustainable. Moreover, with the economic crisis upon them, sponsorships for many competitions had been consistently declining. The viability of scheduled events was questionable, and with ongoing training expenses, it was no wonder Vincent was worried.
"Tim told me we might have to lower the food quality standards," Vincent said with a deep frown. "But the kids are still growing, and with the intensity of training required to prepare for this year's playoffs, compromising their nutrition would be harmful to their bodies. It would be gambling with their professional careers."
"Aren't there any upcoming matches?" Shiller asked.
Vincent shook his head and said, "No matches for the next two months, but, barring any surprises, the playoffs should go ahead as scheduled, so we can't neglect training."
"It all boils down to money," Shiller said. "If the university hadn't cut salaries, you might have had some funds to invite other teams to compete, which would also shift the public's attention. At least a victory would brighten their spirits."
"You're telling me. But the problem is the university's finances are in a dire state, and a salary cut was inevitable."
"Who made the decision to cut salaries?" Shiller asked, "He had too many classes and wasn't very familiar with the university's management system nor acquainted with the administrators."
"The board of directors made that decision at a meeting," Vincent replied. "I was there too. We thought about inviting you, but you're always busy with teaching, and we knew you wouldn't want to miss classes just for a meeting, so we didn't call you."
"Has Gotham University always been without a president?" Shiller asked.
"Yes, normally it would be the board's decision, but the chairman is Wayne, and without his designation, no one else can make that call."
"So now the administrative department is in charge of day-to-day operations?"
"Yes, we don't even have an interim president. Most of the daily affairs are decided by meetings of the academic staff in the administrative department," Vincent sighed. "Not to speak ill of others behind their backs, but most teachers in the administrative department aren't professional managers. There are significant issues with how they allocate and use funds, and they can't present a unified program. The management chaos is one of the reasons for the poor financial state."
"You think we should have a president."
"Certainly, while prosperous times may not call for meticulous budgeting, now that we've decided to make things last, we need a competent Head Steward, right?"
Shiller fell into deep reflection.