Administrators outline cuts

Fresno State set to lose $11 million

By Laban Pelz

Two Fresno State administrators outlined plans for dealing with an $11 million budget cut during Thursday night’s Associated Students meeting.

Jeri Echeverria, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, and Paul Oliaro, vice president of Student Affairs, also presented some of the official figures of where cuts will be felt.

According to the administrators, the eight schools on campus endorse different approaches for managing cuts in funding. Though strategies may differ, Echeverria said she wanted to make clear that the main focus of these schools is the same.

“ What do we have as top priority?” she said. “Keeping as many teachers on board as possible to teach as many classes as possible.”

Though the university may try to retain faculty, Echeverria said one strategy some schools may use to save money involves maintaining a smaller payroll.

“ Vacated positions are not going to be filled,” she said.

According to Oliaro, Fresno State has been reducing its staff for the past few years.

“ We have been anticipating reductions for quite awhile,” he said, “and have been reducing student assistant and temporary positions.”

Echeverria made the point that the university has been in the throes of a dwindling budget for the past few years.

“ Over the past few years, we have cut the budget and offered the same number of courses,” she said.

Another proposal some schools plan to use is the consolidation of departments within a school. This strategy is favorable, Echeverria said, because it mitigates the elimination of majors offered by schools.

“ Three or four of the schools talk about consolidation,” she said. “One person fills one position for two similar departments. We still offer the major, and keep students moving forward. There is not a removal of the major.”

While students looked over next year’s budget figures, Echeverria spoke about the need to assess all programs before cuts are made.

“ If you don’t look across the board, people say ‘why are you picking on us?’” she said. “I suggest to you that there is not a professor on campus who feels his or her program isn’t vital to the university’s mission.”

Many students raised questions Thursday about cuts in funding to specific programs. Concerns over technological efficiency were also brought up. Bruce Millis, a graduate student and vice chair of the Health Center board, said technological tools like PeopleSoft should be reevaluated.

“ If something on our campus isn’t working, let’s cut it,” he said. “Let’s make it effective. We’ve got technology we’re not using.”

Oliaro defended the continuing trial of technology.

“ We’re getting there,” he said. “We’re making progress. We see gains all the time.”

Millis also responded to Echeverria’s statement about providing the same services at a lower cost. He held that student fees are covering for lost state funding.

“ Nobody knows they’re cutting the money,” Millis said. “One hundred percent of the Health Center’s funding used to come from the general fund. Fifty percent, $730,000, will be cut over the next two years. Student fees will cover that.”

In addition, Millis said students aren’t being taken as seriously as they should be by the administration. Results of a student budget summit several weeks ago were given to administrators as an aid in deciding the budget presented Thursday, but Millis said he felt it was not recognized.

“ I didn’t see it at all,” he said regarding the official budget’s reflection of student’s wishes. “I’m very disappointed. I don’t know what happened.”