Faculty Senate members and Student Government representatives broke away from traditional teacher-student discussions Tuesday at the monthly Faculty Senate meeting.While discussions of the programs being pioneered by the Office of the University Registrar, class schedules and the 2009-2010 Senate officers were plentiful, one issue loomed over the meeting — budget cuts.The Senate had an extensive conversation on the prospect of the University receiving $45.4 million in budget cuts.Kevin Cope, Faculty Senate president, said numerous administrators have consulted the Senate on several issues with regard to how the cuts should be handled.”We’re now getting increasing calls for input,” Cope said. “The [LSU System] is going to be the ultimate authority in this one way or another.”The Faculty Senate maintained contact with Chancellor Michael Martin during the past month while opening the lines of communication with System President John Lombardi — including a recent meeting between the Faculty Senate presidents of all LSU System universities and Lombardi, Cope said.Three major points discussed at the meeting were the consolidation among the LSU System’s 11 universities, the liquidation of University-owned land not attached to LSU’s Baton Rouge campus and faculty preservation. “The administration is every bit as confused as the faculty are,” Cope said. “Faculty preservation was at the top of [Lombardi’s] agenda.”Cope said the letter circulated last week titled “A Letter to the Faculty on the Budget Debate” was an attempt to ensure the Faculty Senate is in the loop on budget discussions.The letter, which extensively discusses the possibilities of financial exigency and furloughing, was paid for by Faculty Senate funds. Robert Doolos, University registrar, discussed the relationship between the Office of the University Registrar and the faculty.”I come here not to ask for support, but to tell you how we support you,” Doolos said. “Our foremost mission is to support the instructional mission of the University and to support [faculty].” One particular program implemented by the Registrar, the Comprehensive Academic Tracking System, focuses on student retention rates. The program will be particularly useful in light of budget cuts because any performance-based funding will likely take student retention into account, according to Doolos.The Comprehensive Academic Tracking System is designed to ensure students take — and excel in — classes that are considered critical to their majors.”We really have a lot of great hopes for this program,” Doolos said. “We hope to fully implement CATS for this coming fall.”Doolos also praised the recently implemented wait-listing program, which he said has had tremendous success in helping students get into their classes of choice.”It’s been a triple-win situation all the way around,” Doolos said. “The number of courses we’re able to help students [enroll in] is going up.”Student Government President Colorado Robertson was present to discuss Senate Resolution 09-01 — a resolution to change the start of classes to on the hour or on the half hour as opposed to 10 minutes after each.”It was overwhelmingly voted by the students in our survey to keep the current class time,” Robertson said. “It has become a part of LSU as well as a part of the common day for LSU students.”After Robertson’s presentation and discussion among Senate members, the majority of Senate members voted against the resolution.
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