MSU Regents approve 2008-2009 budget cuts
By HOLLY WISE
Staff Writer
Murray State University Board of Regents approved the proposed budget cuts to the 2008-09 budget, approved an across-the-board, non-recurring $400 payment to all full-time employees, and approved the collection of mandatory fees for Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) participants during a board meeting Friday.
A record number of public participants and observers packed the Jesse Stuart Room in Pogue Library for the meeting.
The cost containment efforts, equaling $2.1 million, will offset a six-percent cut from state appropriations and dig the university out of a $1.2 million hole they faced when the board of regents voted down President Dr. Randy Dunn's “break-even budget” of a 9 percent tuition increase and voted instead for a 6 percent increase last month.
The cuts have been a topic of hot discussion on campus as funding for the women's rowing team, Shield yearbook, scholarship funds and men's rowing club team have been carved out of the budget.
During two campus-wide forums and one Student Government Association-sponsored forum, faculty, staff and students were given the opportunity to question, oppose or agree with the decisions made by the administration. Despite those who addressed the regents Friday, the vote was unanimous and the cuts were approved.
The only motion to reinstate monies came from Beverly Ford who moved to reinstate funding for the Commonwealth Honors Academy (CHA). CHA had faced a cut of $43,135 in the original proposal but officials changed it to $26,040. Ford's motion did not receive a second and died. No other motion was made to restore funds to the budget.
The cuts are ones that Dunn feels will not effect the average student's experience on campus come the fall semester.
“When students return to campus in the fall for the next academic term, it will look like substantially the same place that they were attending before,” said Dunn. “We're not losing faculty lines, we're not losing student services and I think that's been a very important thing throughout this process.”
As a result of Dunn's determination not to eliminate direct student services, some funds have been restored to the School of Agriculture in order to change a professor of emeritus line to an assistant professor line in the budget for the eventual hiring of a faculty member.
Students who participate in the KIIS program will now have to pay the mandatory fees associated with tuition. The tuition will still be waived, but students will have to chip in for the $150-$200 fees per student.
“This is not going to kill the KIIS program,” said Dunn. “It will continue to operate,” and, he added, continue to do well.
In addition to the fees, officials proposed instating an administrative fee of $75,000 to KIIS.
Chris Bierwirth, director of KIIS at Murray State, petitioned the board to grant him more time to negotiate the fees with university officials. However, a motion proposed by Jeff Taylor and seconded by Bill Adams passed unanimously to accept the fees as they were proposed.
Full-time university employees will receive an across-the-board $400, which is not considered a salary increase because the money will not be added to the salary base and therefore will not be reoccurring. While Dunn admits the amount is “probably not a great satisfier in terms of motivation” it allows everyone to “get a taste” and acknowledges the effort of the university employees.
Staff regent Gina Winchester and faculty regent Jay Morgan expressed concern that employees will be negatively impacted by not having the money added to their base salaries given the increasing cost of living. Terry Burgess, president of Staff Congress, reminded the board that some staff members have trouble paying for common amenities like gasoline and groceries.
For complete story, see Saturday's Ledger & Times
Story created May 17, 2008 - 00:31:07 EDT.
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