Interim Vice President for Finance Reka Wrynn announced to the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) on Wednesday that the University of Connecticut had reduced its budget deficit from $37.9 million to $12.6 million, adding that tuition and fees were likely to increase. 

“We don’t have those exact amounts yet, but yeah, it’s inflation,” Wrynn said. “The cost of things goes up. But I will say that the university is committed to any time we increase tuition and fees that there is an increase in the financial aid bucket.” 

The university is in the process of implementing what Wrynn called a financial sustainability plan consisting of three key pillars: growing enrollment, resource reallocation and personnel optimization and reduction, adding that the “guiding principle” of these initiatives was to keep students from being “negatively impacted.” 

“We want to hear back from you,” Wrynn said. “If you know you’re being negatively impacted, we want to hear that, so you know certainly we’ll look into them.”  

Wrynn announced that UConn plans to increase enrollment by 4,000 students over the next five years. Multiple senators questioned this initiative, citing a housing crisis on the Storrs campus along with shrinking access to amenities like areas for students to study. 

Wrynn said that there was no housing crisis at UConn, saying there were plenty of empty beds available across UConn’s multiple campuses. 

“Don’t believe everything you read. We have plenty of empty beds this year,” Wrynn said. “At the Storrs campus, in Stamford, in Hartford, we have empty beds right now. So, we would like to grow enrollment to fill those beds.”  

When pressed by one senator regarding the number of available beds on the Storrs campus, Wrynn said she believed there were roughly 550 available beds on the campus. Wrynn added that a private development just outside of campus was also underway to provide more housing for students, in addition to housing expansions at the Hartford and Stamford campuses. 

Other senators questioned Wrynn regarding student access to study spaces on campus, which Wrynn claims there are plenty of, according to data given to her by the Dean of the UConn Library. 

Senators challenged Wrynn’s claim and said they frequently had to search every floor of the library to find space to study. One senator brought forward concerns about the accessibility of spaces known as study pods, which are inaccessible to some students due to their raised nature. 

Wrynn added that resources would be reallocated to “our high priority areas,” to ensure they experience as little cuts as possible. 

A senator representing the African American Cultural Center (AACC) asked Wrynn why so many black organizations had experienced such large cuts to their budgets. Wrynn said it was because those organizations were not a part of those high priority areas. 

“Primarily non-academic funds were the funds that were swept,” Wrynn said. “I would have to dig into the specific case to see, you know, maybe to step back a little bit in that there’s only so much money, right, to spread around and things get more expensive every year, whether it’s the travel or whatever the event is that you’re looking to participate in.” 

Wrynn also spoke on UConn’s loss of federal research grants since the change in administration. The university had 63 of its grants terminated, which provided $41.3 million in funding for ongoing and future research. 

Wrynn said that UConn is in the process of shifting its research priorities to be in line with the priorities of the Trump administration, something she says is usually procedure. 

“We are pivoting as we do every four years when there’s a new administration,” Wrynn said. “We tend to pivot and realign our research priorities with the priorities of that administration and seek out research awards that are along uh those lines.” 

Those research priorities include national security, quantum information science, biosciences, artificial intelligence and health, wellness and quality of life, according to Wrynn. 

Senators asked Wrynn what UConn’s research priorities were during the Biden administration to make the shift in priorities clearer to students. Wrynn said she was not familiar with those priorities herself but said they were published somewhere online. 

A UConn Today article from September 2021 lists genomics and neuroscience, climate studies, cybersecurity, energy, personalized medicine, cancer detection and care, manufacturing innovations among others as previous research priorities. 

In addition to federal cuts, Wrynn mentioned the constant funding risk from the state government, which can reduce UConn’s funding by up to five percent without the approval of the legislature, according to her. 

“That’s always a risk in our budget,” Wrynn said. “If they should choose to do that throughout the year for any given reason, then that would create an additional reduction in our budget. And so, we just continue to remind people of that risk.” 

State funding dropped to $268.2 million in Fiscal Year 26 from $319.5 in Fiscal Year 25. $95.7 million, or 18% of FY 25 funds were denoted as temporary support. 

Wrynn said the university expected another $15 million decrease in state funding for FY 27 but had submitted a request for $12 million to be put back into permanent funding. 

While the university is operating under a deficit this financial year, Wrynn said that UConn still had the funds to cover current expenses for the time being. 

According to Wrynn, the university has a balance of cash funds set aside for circumstances like this, similar to a savings account. But those funds are limited according to Wrynn.  

“As you all know, when you spend that money down from your savings account, that’s one time funding,” Wrynn said. “It can Band-Aid the problem for one year, but once you spend it, it’s gone. And so, it doesn’t solve any problems.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump has a long list of crypto ventures, profiting to the tune of some $1 billion as of October 2025. Of them, a DeFi project dubbed World Liberty Financial might be the biggest.

The platform, which President Trump co-founded, according to its website, along with his three sons, wants to make finance “reliable, open, and made for how the world works today.”

World Liberty Financial was announced by President Trump’s son Eric in August 2024. It is led by DeFi builders Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, along with other members of the Trump family and Zach Witkoff—son of longtime Trump ally Steve Witkoff.

Details on how the project works are still somewhat scant. Let’s take a look at what we know so far.

An Ethereum-based DeFi project

Built using the Aave protocol, World Liberty Financial’s platform hasn’t been released as of October 2025, but the project says it plans to “keep the dollar digital” and provide “loans for institutions and everyday users.”

DeFi—short for decentralized finance—is the sphere of the crypto industry that wants to replace traditional banking. DeFi projects, financial platforms that operate without third-party intermediaries, are usually apps built using Ethereum, the blockchain behind the second biggest cryptocurrency, ETH.

World Liberty Financial also runs on Ethereum.

It’s worth noting that while there are plenty of DeFi apps, the space is still a highly experimental part of the crypto industry and has been plagued by hacks and scams.

Those in the DeFi space typically say they want to streamline a slow and expensive legacy banking system, and World Liberty Financial so far has sold itself as the quintessential DeFi project: A borrowing and lending platform that will “unlock financial access for all, by replacing the limits of traditional banking with open, on-chain infrastructure, creating a fairer system—where opportunity isn’t defined by location, status, or permission.”

What can you do with World Liberty Financial?

While you can’t yet take loans out using the platform, you can buy its native token, WLFI, which has a market cap of $3.56 billion as of October 2025, making it the 43rd biggest cryptocurrency in existence, per CoinGecko data. WLFI is available on top exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.

The project also has its own stablecoin, USD1, running on Ethereum and BNB Chain, which Decrypt first revealed in October 2024. The stablecoin is also available on major American exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to the value of fiat currencies—in USD1’s case, the U.S. dollar. The assets are a key part of the DeFi economy (and the wider crypto economy) because traders use them to swiftly enter and exit digital asset transactions. Instead of using dollars on traditional banking rails, digital tokens accelerate the crypto trading process.

The Trump family’s involvement

President Trump is listed as “co-founder emeritus” on the World Liberty Financial website, meaning he is no longer involved in the project since taking office in January. His close friend and the White House’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is also listed as a “co-founder emeritus.”

Still, the Trump and Witkoff families have likely made a lot of money from the project: Steve Witkoff’s son, Zach, and the president’s three sons, Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron are all still actively involved in World Liberty Financial.

WLFI’s market cap is more than two and half times bigger than the meme coin President Trump launched ahead of his inauguration, Official Trump (TRUMP). The Trump family owns a significant portion of the WLFI supply; their net worth grew by over $6 billion when the tokens started trading in September.

Conflict of interest concerns

The Trump family’s involvement in WLFI has proved contentious. Democratic lawmakers have frequently criticized the project—and the president’s other crypto ventures. In May 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren took aim at a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund MGX into leading crypto exchange Binance, which used the USD1 token, calling it “shady.”

Prominent House Democrats have also asked the Treasury to provide access to all suspicious activity reports, or SARs, on Trump’s digital asset projects—including World Liberty Financial.

Trump has repeatedly brushed aside concerns over his family’s involvement with crypto ventures including World Liberty Financial, claiming he “hasn’t looked” at the profits.

CNA Staff, Oct 18, 2025 /
14:15 pm

Officials in New Jersey have charged a former parish financial director with the theft of more than half a million dollars in church funds.

Joseph Manzi has been charged with second-degree theft by unlawful taking after he allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Leo the Great Parish in Lincroft.

Manzi was the subject of an August lawsuit by the parish in which he was alleged to have “systematically, secretly, and dishonestly utilized parish funds for his own personal benefit.” The civil suit claimed he had stolen upwards of $1.5 million.

In an Oct. 17 press release, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office said Manzi had been officially criminally charged with the theft. Platkin in the release said Manzi used the funds “not to feed his family or for some kind of emergency, but to live a more lavish lifestyle.”

Manzi stopped working at the Lincroft parish in June of this year, the office said. Afterwards, church staff reviewed credit card statements and found “numerous unauthorized charges that were determined to allegedly be for Manzi’s personal benefit.”

The state alleged that Manzi used stolen funds for “event vendors, vehicle repairs, financing, and purchases, including a Cadillac SUV,” as well as purchases such as luxury clothing, sports event tickets and “chartered fishing trips.”

Manzi is facing up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $150,000.

It was not immediately clear why the prosecutor’s office charged Manzi with about $1 million less in theft than the August civil suit alleged. The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Oct. 18 seeking clarification on the figures.

On its website, the St. Leo parish said the controversy “will not prevent Saint Leo the Great Parish from working every day to live our mission – to serve Parishioners and the community in God’s name with the greatest of love and compassion.”

“We ask you all to stand together in our shared faith and to pray for a swift and just conclusion to this troubling chapter,” the parish said.