Deans, colleges grappling with budget crisis

Academic quality at the university will take a hit as deans are forced to further slash budgets already cut to the bone.

College deans are drawing up plans to cut around 10 percent of their budgets. Professors and staff members are preparing for furloughs. Administrators are worrying about morale.

As the university prepares to weather the economic storm, the exact details are still being resolved, but it's clear most parts of the university will feel at least some pain.

"It's taken a long time to build up this university," said Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie. "We are very proud of the quality education here; I don't want to see that damaged."

"If there were anything obvious, it would have been done," said James Harris, dean of the arts and humanities college.

COLLEGES

Provost Nariman Farvardin has asked college deans to draft plans for 8- to 10-percent reductions and submit them by the middle of September. Farvardin will review the plans and determine if the proposed cuts will do too much damage to the college. If it does, he said colleges would be allowed to take smaller slashes or none at all.

But if more cuts come, those plans will be placed back on the table. State revenue from income and sales taxes, as well as other sources, has been declining since the beginning of the recession, so it wouldn't be out of the question for Gov. Martin O'Malley to recommend more cuts to the Board of Public Works this year.

The faculty ranks are shrinking as departing and retiring members aren't replaced and adjuncts aren't asked back. The consequences? Elective classes with small enrollments could be canceled or have their frequency reduced. The courses that aren't eliminated will be larger.

"We don't have any excess in terms of personnel," said Darryll Pines, dean of the engineering school. "Some faculty have volunteered to teach extra courses, but I'm still worried; I'm always worried. We're at the mercy of the state."

While no dean said they would get rid of a class required for a degree, seniors may run into trouble enrolling classes they need to graduate if those classes had fewer sections. Administrators said they would work to ensure students could graduate on time.

A more drastic step would be merging academic departments or forcing colleges to drop programs that don't contribute to their core mission, Farvardin said. Any major changes would have to be reviewed by the University Senate and a committee advising Farvardin.

"We're determined to make a distinction between programs that are excellent and those that are mediocre," he said.

FACULTY AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

Graduate students could be the first victims. Deans said they will likely to be the first ones laid off and the last ones hired. In comparison, tenured faculty are safe because they cannot be laid off, university President Dan Mote said. But they won't be completely spared. With fewer colleagues, they'll be forced to teach additional classes and spend time away from specialized research that raises their and the university's profile.

While many colleges will be forced to lay off or delay hiring new lecturers and adjuncts, others are  hiring more adjuncts — who are considerably cheaper — to replace departing tenured faculty.

Chemical and Life Sciences Dean Norma Allewell said she was worried that discouraged faculty could flee and the college would have a hard time attracting replacements because of the budget situation. But other deans and Mote said that was unlikely to happen because public and private universities in other states are facing the same situation and a faculty member would encounter the same problems as at this university.

"Our greatest concern is faculty morale," Allewell said. "All of these developments are discouraging to them. It's a tremendous risk; our faculty can't be replaced quickly. Each faculty member receives a start-up bonus that's over six figures. Turnover is very costly."

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