A budget presentation at last night's faculty senate meeting led to an emotional round of questions and answers, as senators voiced several doubts about the plan.
The presentation, delivered by Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding, contained an outline for Ohio University to maintain its academic quality after Gov. John Kasich announces a new budget on March 15. Kasich is expected to cut state funding for higher education.
Including projected economic inflation, OU anticipates cutting between $25 million and $36 million across the board, said Golding. OU has cut $60 million since 2003, he said.
The plan suggests each college should prepare for a 10 percent cut. The plan uses cost sharing, non-personnel savings, voluntary and involuntary staff reductions, revenue generation, utilizing foundation resources and reducing administration overhead charges for academic units to reduce funds, according to Golding's presentation.
Faculty members in attendance stressed concerns that their colleges would struggle to survive another round of budget reductions.
You've already basically cut us down to the bare minimum of functioning
said Helaine Burstein, a Group II faculty senator. We're going to lose quality.
Golding said that colleges must focus on academic value despite serious cuts.
This strategy is a mosaic Golding said. I think that when the deans are forced into that conversation with their faculty I think there has to be an eye towards maintaining as much quality as you possibly can.
Along with expressing concern about the lack of detail in Golding's report, senators reiterated that academic units will eventually reach a point where they cannot cut any more funds without folding.
Mary Bowen, a senator from the College of Health Sciences and Professions, said that a recent increase in the college's enrollment has made the upcoming additional cuts impractical.
There's no possible way - our department will fold
Bowen said. That's one thing I wanted to say ... as far as quality
we can't deliver.
Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit said the university is trying to protect its academic reputation.
After about an hour of discussion, Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin suggested changing topics, as there will be more budget discussions in the coming months.
This next set of cuts is going to kill stuff. We are not going to be able to save things essential to the academic function
said Steve Hays, a senator from the College of Arts and Sciences. I'm wondering whether the cuts we make (after March 15) ... are going to result in students saying
'This isn't worth the money.'
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Pat Holmes
