USM cuts budget: How well were students represented?

The administration has announced the plan to cut the university's budget by almost $15 million for the next fiscal year, meaning the University Priorities Council has temporarily finished its work.

However, it seems that some students are still not sure what that work entailed. Some students also wonder if their voices were heard in the decision-making process.

Two student representatives served on the council. One was the SGA president, which switched from J.R. Robinson to Kasey Mitchell midway through the process, and the other was a graduate student representative.

Robinson, former SGA president, was a part of the early research that the committee undertook until he relinquished his duties during the process to current SGA president Mitchell.

"I did a lot of the legwork, like research on programs in non-academic and academic areas," Robinson said. "I was more a part of doing the work to get to the point that the committee could make their recommendations."

Robinson was not a part of the final decision-making process for the committee, however, he gave up his duties when his term ended.

"I hated to transition like that, but Kasey did a good job," he said. "It's a hard job to do."

Robinson added that the fact that Mitchell was not present for the early research probably did not make her job any easier.

Mitchell said she did not make any decisions directly but had her say by reading over the reports from the various initiatives and submitting her rating to the UPC.

Mitchell said she came in at the tail end of the process, but when she attended meetings she was not simply a bystander.   

"I spoke up and really spoke on the student's behalf," she said. "I know I was very concerned in pushing for general things like scholarships and things that broadly affect all students," Mitchell said.

Students were also represented by Alice Ferguson, a doctoral student in the school of mass communications and journalism.

Tim Rehner, the co-chair of the academic priorities committee, said Ferguson was a "strong voice for students" in the UPC's recommendation process.

Ferguson said, "(The students involved) had as much say as anyone else."

Ferguson, who attended most of the UPC's meetings since they began late last year, said she was adamant about asking questions anytime she did not understand something that came up in discussion.

One thing Ferguson said she would like to be clearer for the university community is the way that money is allotted to things. As a former university professor, Ferguson thought she was well informed about how universities worked but learned that budgeting is much more complex than she had imagined.

"That made the job difficult because we had certain things we could turn to and certain things we couldn't," said Ferguson.

Rehner added that because of the work of these students he had "no doubt about student presence" in the UPC's recommendations.

Some students, on the other hand, are not quite as sure about how their input was heard, or even what the UPC was.

Jessie Stringer, an elementary education major from Mandeville, La., only heard rumors about the cuts and said she is unsure of why the UPC was created.

Though there is some confusion about their purpose, Ferguson still praised the work of everyone involved in the UPC.

"Everyone was serious about doing the best possible job," Ferguson said, "I had absolute respect for that."

Despite their efforts, many students are still disappointed.

"I think for a situation like this, when were talking about a budget cut of this size, no matter what the final list would have looked like, it would still be heartbreaking like it is right now," Ferguson said. "It is an absolute heartbreak."