Budget cuts will force Baker University Center to either reduce its hours during the week or close on Sundays starting July 1, and Ohio University administrators say they want student input before making a final decision.
Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith will speak to Student Senate tonight about different options for reducing Baker Center hours. Reduced hours are part of a $114,585 - 2.81 percent - cut from Baker Center's $4.08 million budget next year. Every academic and non-academic unit will cut spending next year to fill a $13.75 million hole in the university budget.
What I'm most interested in is the feedback from the students
Smith said. The presentation will center around 'Should we close on Sundays or close the building earlier during the week?'
Senate will look at the number of events that occur in, and the traffic passing through, Baker Center on Sundays versus the rest of the week, Smith said. Administrators will decide in the next few weeks how Baker Center will reduce its hours and notify the people who will have to adapt to the new schedule.
I'm hoping that I can hear some discussion at the meeting and then I'd like (senators) to talk to the students - their constituents - and provide me with some feedback and what they're hearing Smith said. A lot of people use Baker and not everyone is going to agree on what the best thing is to do. It makes sense to consult people for feedback.
Senate President Robert Leary said that whether Baker Center should be closed on Sundays or cut hours during the week has been a topic of discussion throughout the year.
Most students I've spoken with want (Baker Center) to be open on Sundays
Leary said. (If Baker Center was closed)
students wouldn't be able to use offices for planning and meetings.
Leary said that senate might also draft another resolution on the proposed noise ordinance that has drawn widespread disapproval from OU students. City Council members announced Monday that they will send the current draft of the ordinance back to an ad hoc committee for revision after City Law Director Pat Lang said he wanted Council to address problems in the ordinance before they continued discussing it.
At the Feb. 22 meeting, Student Senate passed a resolution vehemently condemn(ing) the proposed ordinance. The new resolution would ask City Council members to compromise and keep the noise ordinance that is currently on the books.
If we keep the ordinance we have now but work on ways to enforce it better
we can bypass all of these problems with the ambiguous language and harsher penalties (of the proposed ordinance)
said John Calhoun, senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. They're trying to change the noise ordinance we already have. The biggest complaint I've heard is that police don't show up or people are getting too many warnings ... So we should do something about how many warnings people are getting.
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Pamela Engel
