Arts and Sciences reanalyzes budget cuts
As Justin McCain, a kinesiology sophomore, entered his 250-person geography class Tuesday to take a test, he did not expect the test to be given on an overhead instead of paper.
“I didn’t like it at all,” he said. “It messed up the way I take my tests. It would have been a lot easier if it would have been on paper.”
Kent Mathewson, McCain’s professor, said he felt he was following department instructions to save paper whenever possible.
“It’s only because of the [budget] crisis that I was doing this,” he said.
However, Arts and Sciences Dean Jane Collins sent an e-mail Monday to department chairs in hopes of curbing these types of drastic measures within the College of Arts and Sciences.
Collins composed the e-mail with Provost Daniel Fogel, but Fogel did not return any phone calls to The Reveille before press time.
“… I am concerned that while some departments are adjusting their budgets in ways that protect essential activities, others are proposing reductions in activities that are necessary for minimal function …,” Collins said in the e-mail.
Collins instructed departments to resume all essential copying for instructional purposes, phone services and travel in accordance with departments’ research and travel missions.
“I’m delighted that I don’t have to put the phones on reserve,” said Anna Nardo, English department temporary chair. “I’m very happy we’re not going to make that cut.”
Also, the e-mail instructed departments to make new budget adjustments up to one-half the amount Collins originally requested them to cut.
Nardo said she has past plans she will adjust and reevaluate to see if they are successful in eliminating $8,800 from her budget.
Bill Demastes, College of Arts and Sciences associate dean, said the budget shortfall comes from a combination of events.
“There is no one cause for the necessary reallocation of funds,” he said. “The budget has come up short, and we are looking for ways to balance it.”
Demastes said he attributes some of the shortage to an expected budget reduction when the University pulled money from the college campuswide to give non-faculty workers a raise.
However, he supposes the problems now partly resulted from the recession. With fewer faculty leaving the college than expected, even less money is available.
“This is where the hit comes,” he said. “We’re going back to departments to see what can be reallocated. But, we don’t want to erase communication between faculty and students. We want to cut as much as we can without it being absolutely drastic.”
Demastes said neither he nor Dean Collins endorsed or supported any of the specific departments in their attempts to spend less. For example, some departments were putting phone lines on reserve and severely limiting copying.
“We want to make reasonable and fair adjustments,” he said.
From looking at past years and comparing those to the current school year, administrators realized a possible shortage of funds at the beginning of the Fall semester.
“There were clear warnings that some sort of budget adjustment was to occur around mid-year,” Demastes said.
Typically, the college has a built-in buffer zone within its budget that allows for unexpected costs. Demastes said this buffer zone will be tightened further.
“It minimized the wiggle room that we had,” he said.
He said the college did not dictate to departments how to adjust their budgets to conform with the mandatory reductions.
Concerning Mathewson’s geography class, he said the action taken might have been premature.
“The faculty member chose to do this as a precautionary measure,” Demastes said. “It’s unfortunate, and I don’t think it will happen with any regularity.”
Collins concluded her departmental e-mail by stating, “… I am continuing to explore all available resources in order to cover deficits in the overall budget of the college, and I expect you to continue to economize wherever possible for the rest of the fiscal year.”
Some faculty said they thought this administrative move was an attempt to limit negative visibility of the ongoings within the college.
“It’s a soft-core way to backpeddle and get out the situation,” said Kevin Cope, an English professor.
Cope said each faculty member who paid money to keep his or her phone line in the English department received a check back in an unmarked envelope by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
He said he did not want to further comment on Collins’ statement, but said he was just happy to have his phone and $60 check back.
Diette Courrege