In a post Sept. 11 society, news of stocks faltering on Wall Street and businesses collapsing are the norm. It is easy to become immune to such constant talk of money - especially a lack thereof. Consequently, the University-wide budget cuts, much discussed as they are, might fail to stand out among the myriad of troubled financial situations that plague the country currently.
Snipping a few percentage points from the University's multi-million dollar budget might seem unnoticeable now, but its effects will become more palpable in the upcoming semesters. Classes will be cut, fewer guest lecturers will grace the University with their unique perspectives and libraries might be closing half an hour earlier.
By looking at how matters stand within a few of the departments and sectors of the University, it may be easier to see exactly how they are being forced to adapt next year.
By the numbers
The mathematics department is no stranger to numbers, but the cancellation of its three faculty searches, including one tenure track position, is alarming. The other two positions eliminated were post-doctorals, who are hired just out of graduate school for a three-year term.
"It is important to bring in these people," said James Howland, chairman of the mathematics department. "It affects the research programs of the people in the department. It is a factor for graduate students as well because graduate students will interact with post-docs more their age and closer to their career."
As in other departments across Grounds, the "Other Than Personal Services" money was slashed. OTPS funds seemingly mundane, yet vital, office components such as Xerox paper, course evaluation forms and the phone system. More specifically to the math department, however, money formerly allocated for graders almost completely has been cut off, resulting in no graders for this current semester. While professors generally grade their own tests, graders usually grade homework.
The department also suffers from faculty salary freezes.
"In the long term, if we go so long without anyone getting pay raises, retaining these people won't be easy," Howland said.
The mathematics department will not have any serious problems next year, partially due to the aid of private funding, he said.
"We have some non-state resources available to us, so we had to dip into that," he added.
Howland was adamant that continuing budget limitations would be hurtful to the department.
"The math department will survive for next year," he said, "but depending how long it goes on, it could be quite serious."
History in the making
The mathematics department is not alone in its struggles, and its fellow College department, history, is not faring any better in the wake of the budget cuts.
Charles McCurdy, the history department chairman, echoed many of Howland's concerns, in addition to voicing his own apprehensions about having fewer guest lecturers and eliminating classes due to the lack of faculty.
Next year, there will be no courses taught in modern British history. Since most history faculty members teach four classes per academic year, McCurdy said the four classes of modern Britain will not be offered for one simple reason: there is not a professor to teach them.
"For a rising third year there'll be no modern Britain history for two years," McCurdy said.
Second-year College student Emily Swafford, a history and American Studies double major, said this lack of classes particularly surprises her since the University's history department is so highly respected.
"It saddens me to realize that some of its strength and vitality would be lost because we don't have professors to teach certain sections of history," she said.
Due to a faculty search cancellation, modern U.S. history courses also will take a hit.
"Most of the history majors take four or five courses in U.S. history," McCurdy said. "And the available classes in U.S. history in the 20th century will be dramatically cut."
McCurdy lamented that there was would be no class on modern West Africa.
"None of us anticipated that the cuts would be as deep as they have been," McCurdy said. But he is still hoping that private funding will allow for temporary hires, potentially solidifying the incomplete course listings for next fall and spring.
Reading into the cuts
And it's not just academic departments that are being hit.
The many libraries scattered about Grounds may hold thousands of important research materials, but they are not escaping the budget cuts either.
Jeanne Hammer, director of the budget for the University Libraries, said the libraries will endure a 4.6 percent budget cut next year, which amounts to $777,695.
Hammer said the system is trying to spare the materials budget as much as possible from the cuts. Instead, the employment budget will take the brunt of the cuts, resulting in the elimination of five to six staff positions.However, the eliminated positions most likely will be positions that already are vacant.
"We chose to take the bigger hit in staff," Hammer said. However, "it will mean fewer books will be bought."
Additionally, there will be a 7.2 percent reduction in the student wage budget, which means less money and shorter hours for student library employees.
Third-year College student Russel Hudgins who works at Clemons Library already lost hours last semester and said he hoped he wouldn't lose anymore in the future. He added that he believed shorter hours were not only detrimental for student employees but for all library goers.
Although Hammer said "we don't want to punish students or faculty for the cut," the extreme possibility is that libraries could open or close half an hour earlier or later.
"The next two years it's going to hurt more," she said.
The big hit
It's been no secret that only a month ago the future of the economics department was looking incredibly bleak and chaotic.
As one of the most popular and highly populated departments in the College, conferring 405 degrees in fiscal year 2000-2001, it already was struggling to deal with astronomical enrollment numbers before the cuts were announced.
Like other departments, faculty salaries had been frozen and the department's searches for six new faculty members, three tenured track and three non-tenured positions, had to be called off. But since the department already was losing 11 faculty members at the end of the year, mostly due to visiting professors' contracts ending, the department was faced with the serious problem of a dwindling faculty force and no money or means to rectify the situation.
Recently, however, supplementary funding from the Office of the Dean of the College will permit the department to hire temporary teachers for next year.
Economics Prof. Mary Lee Epps, director of undergraduate studies in the economics department, said the department is unsure of exactly how many visitors are to be hired. The hires would be for one to two years, depending on future budget fluctuations. Epps said the department's first priority will be to open new sections in heavily populated courses that are required for majors.
"If there is a required course and we are concerned a lot of people need that course, we will make a pointed effort to find someone to teach that," she said.
To help ensure that majors could complete their major requirements, upper-level classes are restricted to third-and fourth-year majors for fall course enrollment. Epps, however, sees a positive benefit in restricting these classes. She hopes this will force students to take the basic lower-level required classes first, before attempting the upper-level classes.
"The key classes aren't restricted," she said. Students "should take the core classes first anyway."
Second-year College student Nina Aquilina, an economics major, said she is very relieved that the department is going to hire temporary faculty. She said she had been concerned that she was not going to be able to enroll in many classes she had planned on taking.
"I think a lot of kids would have been turned off toward the fact that the econ department had such limited scheduling," Aquilina said. "It might have made people consider doing other majors."
The department also suffers from cuts that many other departments are experiencing. Economics Prof. Jason Taylor brought up the discontinuance of traveling money for faculty. Faculty members have used those funds in the past to attend conferences, like the Economic History Association's annual meeting, but now they must pay their own way if they want to attend.
"It's important we get out there and represent the University," Taylor said. "If the University is not represented at these major conferences people will start scratching their heads and thinking that the University isn't as good of a university as we thought it was."
The departments are taking the budget cuts in stride as much as can be expected. But all said that successive years of such reductions will take a visible toll on the departments and the University.
"We're trying to remain confident to do what we have always done," McCurdy said. "To provide a first rate program to undergraduates and graduates"
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