Gloom and doom looms at USM

An estimated $15 million to $20 million will vanish from the Southern Miss budget in school year 2011-2012 on top of next year's projected $12 million in cuts, said USM officials during Tuesday's Brown Bag Town Meeting.

University President Martha Saunders, Provost Bob Lyman and members of the University Priorities Committee discussed the planned process to make the cuts at the event held in the Thad Cochran center ballrooms. The UPC was created after last summer's round of budget cuts to assist in prioritizing the university's programs in a time of what Saunders called "unparalleled fiscal challenges."

"I'm asking you to trust the process," Saunders said. "Most of the heavy lifting is yet to be."

The UPC is currently involved with the data-checking portion of the budget-reduction process – reviewing financial data for accuracy. Sometime in mid-March, the committee will distribute criteria to departments and programs, seeking a 10-page report tentatively due in late April. The reports will hopefully supply "qualitative data" to supplement numerical information and aid in the UPC's decision making, Associate Provost Bill Powell said. The UPC will then rate the reports on a basis of "purpose, necessity, efficiency and opportunity," said Russ Willis, chair of the Administrative Services Subcommittee of the UPC.

Lyman said the UPC aims to produce a set of cost-saving recommendations to enhance, maintain, reduce or eliminate programs by July 1, leaving time for an appeals process before the Sept. 1 deadline to inform tenured and tenure-track faculty their positions won't exist in the next year.

The difficulty of the tasks set before the UPC isn't up for much debate. Lyman said it certainly wouldn't be easy to make a "resource allocation decision" involving the friends and colleagues of those on the committee.

Senior art major Elizabeth Maloy, who attended the meeting, agrees.

"I think the planning committee has a very, very difficult job on their hands – probably more difficult than anybody in that room could understand," Maloy said.
During a question and answer session, a faculty member said he did some number crunching. With about $5 million of the cuts channeled into non-academic areas, the remaining $10 million estimate amounts to about 100 lost faculty positions, as per his estimates.

"Is my math faulty there?" the man asked.

"I don't think your math is faulty," Lyman answered. "I think that's the magnitude of the situation we face."

And USM isn't the only state institution facing cuts of this size. Saunders said Ole Miss would see an estimated $39.7 million in cuts, Mississippi State not far behind with $37.2 million in the same time frame.

Other attendees from a mostly-faculty audience filled with sullen faces fired off concerned questions one after another examining the budget cut process step by step.

"I'd like to say we thought of everything up-front," UAP Academic Priorities Committee Co-chair Tim Rehner said. "But you know that's not possible, just like we know that's not possible. So already, I would ask you for patience about how we go about the process."

But wherever the cuts may fall, administrators assure students that programs – cut or not – will continue for students currently enrolled in them.

"We have an absolutley firm committment to serve students currently involved in programs," Lyman said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul added that decision makers will try to keep impact on students to a minimum.

"The most obvious [change] is increased tuition," Paul said, noting the 7 percent increase in tuition next year, and predicting another 7 percent increase the following year.

Maloy showed up to Wednesday's meeting because she was concerned about the effects on students, and said the administration's plan to continue programs until students graduate put her at ease.

"It's really important for students to know how $35 million of budget cuts over the next 3 years would affect them," Maloy said. "There needs to be an outlet for students to voice their opinions on whether or not they think their department is effective. They should be as honest as possible. They aren't facing losing their jobs. I just wish students would start getting more involved in the process. There's no reason that students should be intimidated"