Faculty Senate questioned the provost last night about the budget process, wondering whether it is really different from past years and what the next steps will include.
Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit introduced the budget discussion during her presentation to senate last night, telling members her office wanted to provide cut recommendations early in the year to allow for public response.
We're in the midst of an experiment in which we are trying to construct a very different kind of budget process
Benoit said. We hope as much as possible to make it a bottom-up process.
Senators praised the provost for a more transparent process, although they still expressed concerns with specifics.
Some faculty members questioned how different the process is. Arts and Sciences Senator Ken Brown said the provost's comments at the beginning of the year led him to believe there would be real structural change, but that he didn't see that coming through the recommendations put out last week.
It seems to me that since the beginning of the academic year that we were told we could not continue to do budget cuts the way we had in the past
Brown said. In actual fact
it's turned out that it's the same old uniform cuts. ... It's clearly not what we said we were going to do.
Benoit responded that there have been structural changes proposed for several departments, and that the level of input in the process is larger than in past years.
Units submitted options for 5 and 10 percent cuts on Feb. 1. In last night's meeting, faculty asked the provost why she had decided to choose from scenarios units submitted, rather than simply look at either the 5 or 10 percent for each department. Professors said they are concerned units would have offered different cuts had they known the structure discussions would take.
Benoit assured senators, however, that not only are administrators still accepting input on the recommendations, but they are re-evaluating the initial suggestions because of those concerns.
Faculty members will get another chance to question Benoit - and other administrators - at a budget forum tomorrow afternoon.
During its meeting last night, senate also passed two resolutions. One dealt with add/drop dates under a semesters calendar and the other adjusted two paragraphs in the Faculty Handbook to make promotion and tenure procedures more consistent.
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Emily Grannis
