Impact of the University of Hawaii Study:
The
mathematical
models showing the success of an economy when a local university is
improved clearly show that a stronger
university leads to a stronger economy. Because the benefits
of this spending are long term,
many politicians do not follow the recommendations suggested by
the model. The study has
also been hampered because, as Dr. DePillis said (paraphrasing),
"It's difficult to convince the
politicians to give us more money to tell them they're not doing a
good job."
Budget
cuts not only effect salaries and tuition. Sometimes, the little
things students, faculty, and staff take for
granted suddenly disappear. At the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, certain shuttle
services are no longer available to faculty and staff. As a result
of recent budget cuts, the
Point-to-Point
Shuttle is now only available to students, but there is still a way for
faculty and staff to get around campus at night.
Read the article: Getting Around
Budget cuts can also have an impact on the lives of university faculty and staff. At Eastern Carolina University, salary increases may come out of retirement funds.
Read
the article: Creative Salary Proposal for State Employees (from Leg Report
28,
Report
# 3, Friday, May 26, 2000, from ECUs web page)
At the
University
of Utah, low funding has caused drops in enrollment. Many students
are taking classes from community colleges, and later transferring credits,
rather than spending four years at the university. This phenomenon
is recognized in the following Academic Senate report of the University
of Utah entitled "Budget Process Will Reflect Emphasis on Improving
Enrollment:"
"In the report
from the administration, Interim President Jerilyn S. McIntyre described
how budget cuts are being handled. When enrollment-based appropriations
reductions by the Legislature for 1996-97 and 1997-98 are taken together,
a cut of $2.8 million in base budget must be accommodated.
McIntyre
indicated that Academic Affairs, Health Sciences, and Student Affairs will
get a somewhat smaller percentage cut than the rest of the University for
1997-98, but with the expectation that these agencies will take actions
to increase enrollment at the U. Sectors of the University that do not
directly serve students will thus get a higher percentage cut, and the
campus may experience some diminishment of services in these areas, she
said.
"We have
gone too long without recognizing the link of enrollment with the funding
of the University," McIntyre said as she announced both positive and negative
incentives focusing on enrollment. Colleges, departments, and service
agencies
that are successful in improving service to students will be rewarded for
doing so, but if the overall enrollment picture does not improve, budget
cuts for 1998-99 will be concentrated in the areas of Academic Affairs,
Health Sciences, and Student Affairs that were hit more lightly this year,
McIntyre said.
The president
explained that 1997-98 budget cuts will be made selectively, using the
criteria set by the Task Force on University Resources and made more specific
by the Criteria Task Force. They are: "quality, centrality to the
University's
mission, and productivity." Acting Academic Affairs Vice President David
Pershing added that a fourth criteria, "potential for excellence,"
is also considered.
Meanwhile,
the administration is pushing ahead on two aspects of how the University
is funded, McIntyre said. One is to support the Utah System of Higher
Education's
analysis of its funding formula in hopes that it will take into account
the contributions of the research universities so that the formula is not
entirely enrollment-based. The other is an extensive study within the
University
of all of the reasons for the enrollment decline.
In regard
to the positive and negative incentives, Senate members questioned whether
a year is too short a time for measures to take effect, and asked if there
might be counterproductive effects of colleges raiding each other for
enrollment.
McIntyre replied that what she seeks is a net increase in enrollment that
can take place quickly if departments "look at the way we do business
and how we deal with students, and take actions such as making more
classes available."
There was
some discussion about loss of students to the community colleges, since
the Utah System of Higher Education treats
lower-division courses as identical, wherever they are taken. Prof. Chuck
Wight, Science, said many transfer
students are finding that they are unprepared for more advanced work.
Associate Vice President John Francis,
Undergraduate Studies, and others expressed concern about enrolled U of
U students nonetheless taking
some of their courses at Salt Lake Community College to save money or for
other reasons. McIntyre replied
that the University is not in a position to disallow credits from other
Utah schools, "but we should make
sure that our students see the value in taking their classes here...in
some cases we drive them
away."
Impact of the Tumor Modeling:
Doctors have agreed that the tumor models accurately represent the growth and disappearance of tumors. It may be several years before this data can be applied to humans, as it has not yet been tested on rats. Even though this is not a new medicine, the procedures the model suggests must undergo rigorous testing before they can be used to help cure human cancers. The following are recent articles relating to methods of cancer treatment:
"Dealing with Cancer" by Peter Jaret
"Breast Cancer: Better Treatments Save More Lives" by Carol Lewis