[Updated] UT administrator Cam Cruickshank steps down

Courtesy University of Toledo's website

Cam Cruickshank, University of Toledo’s vice president for enrollment management and online education

This article was updated on 09/09/2015.

Cam Cruickshank officially stepped down from his position at the University Toledo on Sept. 4, making him the fourth administrator to leave UT in the last four months.

As the UT vice president for enrollment management and online education, he was responsible for the enrollment, recruitment and retention of UT students.

According to a news release from UT Spokesman Jonathan Strunk, President Sharon Gaber set new goals to retain more “better academically-prepared students” during her tenure.

“As the strategy to achieve these goals is developed, Gaber and Cam Cruickshank … have agreed that Cruickshank will leave the university,” Strunk wrote.

According to a source speaking on the condition of anonymity who was a part of the meeting when the announcement was made internally, Cruickshank and the new administration had “differing opinions of direction of enrollment strategies.”

Cruickshank was hired in May of 2013 under the Jacobs-Scarborough administration. UT’s enrollment numbers have decreased from 22,624 in 2011 to 20,325 in 2015.

“Cruickshank said that given the change in leadership, it made sense to step aside and provide the president a chance to bring in someone that most closely aligns to her vision and style,” Strunk wrote.

Controversy surrounded Cruickshank when he was hired too.

Some union faculty members were upset at that time. In a 2013 faculty senate meeting, senators debated Cruickshank’s contract and his alleged involvement with Ivy Bridge College with the provost at the time, Scott Scarborough.

Ivy Bridge College was an online offshoot of Tiffin University, but the program closed after five years because it could not obtain independent accreditation separate from TU.

According to The Blade, Cruickshank — vice president for enrollment at TU at the time — was involved in turning Ivy Bridge College into a for-profit center of higher education. There was controversy surrounding claims that Ivy Bridge would be able to operate without independent accreditation.

“Here is what I am going to say, it’s been fully discussed with Cam,” Scarborough said in a 2013 Faculty Senate meeting. “Anybody in this room can request a meeting with him to talk about this and Cam is willing to sit down with anybody to tell the story — at least from his perspective — what happened with Tiffin University and Ivy Bridge.”