Departments could be eliminated

Budget summit proposes ways to cope with cuts

By Krisse Mansfield

Ideas ranging from cutting entire departments to simply turning off lights and equipment when not in use were discussed in a budget summit meeting Thursday, attempting to prepare the university to deal with impending budget cuts for next year.

Universuty President John Welty said the university community will have to find a way to deal with the cuts because they are permanent.

Some ideas included:

• Collapsing all departments and programs with fewer than 35 students

• Eliminating all associate dean positions

• Consolidating student advising programs

• Suspending senior projects

Other areas discussed were the elimination, suspension or changes in processes and procedures; increased revenue opportunities; maintenance, reduction or elimination of services; and deferral of expenditures.

General education class size may be increased and the 4,000-word writing requirements for general education classes will be reassessed.

“ These are permanent reductions to our base budget,” Welty said. “We should be under the assumption that next year these (problems) will absolutely be coming back.”

Welty did not rule out the possibility that money can be restored to the system.

“ Sometime in the future, there will be a day when the money will return, and then we’ll have a recovery plan to deal with it,” Welty said. “When that happens, we may look different than what we look like today.”

The top ideas generated at the summit will be presented to the university’s budget committee for review. The final plan will be revealed in April.