The Leader Brings Troy to an Arcade (and Beats Him)

EU president Troy VanAken plays a Mario Kart arcade game at ENTERRIUM

“It’ll be a good fall,” said Elmhurst University’s President Troy VanAken between bites of dinner on Saturday, Aug. 16.

In the second iteration of The Leader’s “Day Out with Troy,” following up on last summer’s lunch, members of The Leader’s editorial board took VanAken to Enterrium, a family entertainment center and restaurant in Woodfield Mall.

While we were waiting for open seats on a Mario Kart racing simulator, VanAken shared his excitement for this semester.

“The opening of the new building…that’s been a lot of years. Before you guys even got here, we’ve been dreaming of that,” VanAken said. “What’s nice about that is that it created some room elsewhere on campus so we’re not so tight.”

“We’re actually doing some renovations on [Langhorst Stadium, too],” VanAken added. “They’re actually kind of starting about now. It won’t affect the field but we’re adding permanent nice restrooms and bleachers.”

VanAken is also excited for the coinciding Board of Trustees meeting, dedication of the new Health Sciences building, and Homecoming game and festivities all on the same weekend.

Tyler Ptaszkowski plays JAWS Pinball while Troy VanAken observes

Editorial board members had the opportunity to ask Troy about the state of the University, but first, they challenged him to an array of arcade games. The ed board members each took a turn on an arcade game of their choice against EU’s head honcho.

Karissa Esposito, arts and culture editor, opened the night bringing VanAken to a basketball free throw competition game.

“That would be my biggest flex ever,” Esposito said before challenging VanAken. “Every icebreaker I’d be like, ‘I beat Troy in basketball.’”

Esposito lost the first round 17 to 22, though was able to beat VanAken in a rematch game of Connect 4 Basketball.

Tyler Ptaszkowski, news editor, and Ian Murphy, editor-in-chief, took on VanAken in a game of Connect 4, both winning a hard fought battle.

Moving to something more retro, VanAken and Kevin Brassil, opinions editor, played a modern-styled co-op game of Pac-Man.

In their penultimate matchup, VanAken faced Brassil, Murphy, and Eve Hvarre, chief copy editor, in the Mario Kart simulator. Hvarre managed to pass VanAken just before the final stretch, securing a win in the race.

“I had a banana at the last second!” VanAken said.

Rounding out the night, the group traveled to the other end of the arcade to play pinball. Murphy, VanAken, Ptaszkowski and Brassil each played a game of Jurassic Park Pinball and JAWS Pinball.

VanAken, throughout his flips, displayed some of his experience as a casual pinball fan while he and Murphy attempted to guide Ptaszkowski and Brassil through their first times stepping in front of the bells and chimes.

Ultimately, admitting to practicing in his downtime as an intern at Stern Pinball, the largest global manufacturer of pinball machines, Murphy won both games.

The group finished gaming roughly halfway through the evening and sat down in Enterrium’s restaurant section for dinner and a formal interview with VanAken.

A high priority on the minds of students and university staff alike is funding. Since President Donald Trump began his second term in office, higher education has seen budget cuts, grant dismissals, and funding pauses across the board. State-level changes, including the State of Illinois, have also occurred, including pauses on Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants.

While positive and excited for the fall, VanAken didn’t want to sugarcoat the situation, and said, “We can’t charge students more.”

These financial concerns only compound with the impending “academic cliff,” a significant drop-off in incoming college-aged students due to the 2008 Great Recession.

“There’s a 30% decline in high school graduating seniors in Illinois, so the competition for students is going to be intense,” said VanAken. “So that’s why I’m happy we have such a good admissions department.”

“Statistically, we’re not going to do this willingly,” VanAken added. “We’re probably going to drop in the number of students we’re recruiting.”

Christine Grenier, vice president of admission at EU, reported after the interview with VanAken that the university is expecting approximately 550 incoming first-year students this fall, a roughly 5% reduction from last year’s 576 students.

Grenier noted this is not necessarily a guaranteed projection, saying, “We might gain a few students deciding last minute and we also might lose a few students who change their mind.”

Amplifying this, VanAken made it clear that EU is going to weather these new adjustments, at least in the short term, with as little impact as possible.

“I think we should be okay budgetarily this year,” said VanAken. “I don’t know about three years down the road or five years down the road because we have this demographic reality with high school graduating seniors.”

Part of EU’s plans for its fiscal future is a resolution from the Board of Trustees, shared by Board Chair Wes Becton, to charge VanAken with creating a new task force to “ensure that the institution will be able to maintain operations for future generations.”

Transitioning, VanAken said, “We have to keep moving ahead with our academic programs, our student programs.”

Keri Anne Alioto has joined EU as vice president of student affairs, while Courtney Miller has been promoted to vice president of academic affairs.

“[Alioto] officially started last Monday,” said VanAken. “I think you guys are going to really like her. She’s a real energetic person.”

Alioto joins EU after a tenure at Mount Mary University, a Catholic college in Milwaukee.

Miller previously worked at EU as dean of the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

“I just really like my cabinet,” said VanAken. “It’s probably my best cabinet in my [17] years as a university president. I hope I can look you in the face and say, ‘I still really mean that,’ in May.”