Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Sherry Day Scott Farrand, Faculty Senate member and a professor in the Math Department, addresses a group of faculty about the budget impact. [Click to enlarge]

Sacramento State faculty members voiced their opinions and questions about the Budget Task Force's report while the task force itself did its best to answer them.

The report itself was very clear as far as transparency goes which was a pleasant surprise to members of the senate to see a report as concisely factual as the one the Budget Task Force presented.

"This is the first time in my 20 years at Sac State that the faculty have actually peeked underneath the tent and seen the money in a way that, I think, we will actually be able to understand," Faculty Senate President Michael Fitzgerald said.

The report raised many questions as to the allocation of funds or, in some instances, lack thereof, and why funds were being utilized the way that they were.

To answer some of those questions, Bob Buckley, a lecturer in the computer science department suggested a general faculty meeting should be held to discuss the report's findings in further detail.

According to the Faculty Senate Constitution, only the university president, the chair of the faculty senate or 40 percent of the faculty senate can call a general faculty meeting.

The faculty cannot take any action or officially adopt any policy at the general faculty meeting; however, its can influence the Faculty Senate to take action.

Associate Vice President of Public Affairs Frank Whitlatch said that a general faculty meeting would "be an excellent forum for open discussion and debate."

The task force agreed that its job was to provide information regarding the budget, not to interpret the data or the decisions that led to the deficit.

Scott Farrand,a board member and mathematics professor, said that in the findings there was a discrepancy between what the task force learned about the budget estimates in August and what President Alexander Gonzalez said to the senate when the budget became known.

"The president's response to the senate's resolution asking how that happened; that we weren't told, was not what the task force came to understand," Farrand said.

"We don't know. We don't have an explanation for that. We didn't call the president to ask what he meant."

Academic Affairs seemed to be at the forefront of many faculty members' list of concerns.

"In my opinion, the academic affairs budget is essential because of all the divisions," Vice Chair of the Senate committee and Ethnic studies professor James Sobredo said.

"Academic affairs deals with delivering curriculum of the university," Sobredo said. "Our knowledge and direct service are why students show up at Sac State."

"I think it cuts to the heart of the decision making, and it's something that we will be talking about more intimately," Fitzgerald said.

The mandatory increased costs in baseline allocations to the structural deficit had taken on a minor role in the budgetary report.

The report left some professors a little confused as to the connections between what the president had to say about the allocations and why its role wasn't more significant in the report.

"Perhaps better communication between the president and the faculty should be something observed in the future," Farrand said.

For now, it would seem that, despite best wishes, budgetary cutbacks and increased student fees are an inevitability that students and faculty are going to have to face.

Sobredo pointed out that everyone including faculty, students and administrators, must work together to better understand the budget they have to work with.

"Because the way the state operates, we will see a rollercoaster budget," Sobredo said.

"It's not good; we have to make changes," Sobredo said. "We're at a crossroads to make fundamental changes at this college."

Sobredo emphasized that students should take the time to better understand the budget especially, and look at how student fees contribute to the general funds the university receives.

"I'm working at putting something good out there," Sobredo said. "I hope we move in the right direction."

Recommendations For Future Budget:
1. Get a budget book. The budget book will have a description of campus planning, a message from the president, allocations and enrollment, budget principles, policies and programs and benefits, a standard format from year to year and a glossary of terms.

2. An advisory committee. The University Budget Committee. This will replace the current Budget Advisory Group.

3. Make major budget issues public. The University Budget Committee (UBC), should do this especially during budget shortfalls.

4. More reviewing. The UBC should set up a process to review and recommended new budget requests. This process should include campus goal settings, budget reviews and planning, president allocations and fulfillment of campus goals.

5. Budget calendar. The UBC should also make a calendar that shows account planning updates and State and CSU budget calendars. Most budget activity is focused between May and August so the calendar should accommodate this time frame.

6. Collaboration. The budget task force recommends that the UBC and the University Strategic Plan work together to ensure that the goals and values of the University are met and to help with funding choices.

7. Understand enrollment targets. It is vital to the budget planning process.

8. Annual report. The University should have a report reviewing the past five years and expenses, explaining the increases and decreases in specific expenses and changes from previous years. It should also show how the budget responds with the University Strategic Plan.

Jordan Guinn and Josh Staab can be reached at news@statehornet.com

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