WCSU Faces Cuts

It is no secret that the 2011 proposed state budget cuts will effect the CSU system and all higher education programs in Connecticut. The question is, how are the schools, Western in particular, fixing to prepare for cuts along the lines of 5-15% while 15% could mean 250 layoffs. This portion of state funding makes up roughly 35% of the entire WCSU budget, therefore if the decreases do happen to reach 15% the results can be, as stated by the President in his opening meeting, “apocalyptic.” For those who don’t know, (according to the Merriam- Webster online Dictionary,) Apocalyptic: foreboding imminent disaster or final doom.

This does not sound good, particularly when it is coming from our president and amidst rumors (which were later debunked by Malloy himself,) that one of the CS Universities were facing closure. Although, I have to be honest, I think Shmotter was more trying to get rise out of the crowd with his choice of vocabulary, rather than stating a hard fact.

But moving on, through my research, while I couldn’t find much on the actual budget, which was proposed last week, I found other things about our “trusted system” which were mildly- highly disturbing.

In the last year, students at Western have seen an increase in tuition by $477 for commuters and $950 for residents. In the same year the CSU Chancellor and University presidents each received a 10% raise. Jodi Rell later struck down the decision and the raises dropped to 5%. But the fact of the matter is, the same man (Shmotter) who stands before us and speaks of Leadership and Advocacy, stating that “we are all in this together,” did not decline to receive a quite frivolous sum of money.

The president of Eastern Connecticut State University has made it public that she makes along the lines of $299,460 per year. 10% would be an increase of $30,000, that’s just about $16,000 dollars off from the entire salary of the average worker in Connecticut.

Anyways, moving away from the “our leaders are evil money hoarders,” portion of this piece, there have been a few proposals put into place to make sure these kind of increases in spending don’t happen for students and faculty alike, which includes a tuition and salary freeze to be in effect through 2012.

Although, it has been mentioned that if the CS Universities cannot handle the budget cuts, that the tuition freeze could fly.

In the mean time administrators, individual departments and leadership programs are contemplating creative and effective ways to adjust to a lower budget with the least amount of negative consequence. Program cuts and the need to restructure administrative responsibilities and services are inevitable.

Another idea mentioned in Shmotter’s speech was to reduce the amount of special faculty appointments (professors hired on a year- to- year basis)which would directly affect the amount, and quality of, educational services for students.

Throughout this whole ordeal Governor Malloy has put major emphasis on the importance of Education as imperative for creating a valuable and sustainable work force, which would than, in turn, lead to more corporate interest in our communities and eventually help to boost the economy.

We can only hope that those who will take on the responsibilities of mapping out our educational futures will do so efficiently and with competence.