Absent:
Dilworth, Hodges, Seago, Ward, Whitehead, Wood
Kathryn Fuller-Seeley asked what the time frame would be for
implementing the budget cuts after the Governor makes his speech on
October 15th.
Dr. Trani: The figure will be a whole year figure. From
November 1st, we have 7 months left to do 12 months of cuts. The University
will change consulting services for students from being state funded to
being student funded, representing a cut by at least $650,000 in that state
service. There will be a new student fee. The University will
make a $275,000 savings by discontinuing the agreement with GRTC.
The University will close from December 20th to January 2nd. Certain
research and music buildings will remain open. A smaller intersession
will be held in those buildings that will be heated. The leadership
of Faculty Senate is aware of other measures that will need to be done.
Chris Turner asked for more information concerning the student
surcharge.
Dr. Trani: I will be recommending a surcharge to the Board.
They have not yet been presented with it; I do not have a figure.
But I will do it and other universities in Virginia will be doing it.
In the paper, the Governor was clear that any revenue enhancements were
not to be in the budget plans that were submitted. The student counseling
center money needed will not come from the surcharge but will come from
a fee.
Judy Lewis asked the question if professional staff and 12
months employees will have to take annual leave.
Dr. Trani: Yes, and we need to get this news out quick since
November and December is around the corner. The word needs to get
out about the possibilities relative to annual leave.
Gary Sarkozi asked how the budget cuts would impact funding
for indigent care.
Dr. Trani: The State could decide on reductions.
If reduced, we will have to reduce our services. 60 years ago, there
were separate clinics for Blacks and Whites. There were poor and
rich clinics; AD Williams clinics were then instituted. We are merging
our clinics. Our residents are trained in indigent clinics yet they
will not practice in an indigent group. It will take up to two years
to phase in this change. All AD Williams clinics will be shut down.
We had a meeting with thirty state officials and we told them what we will
do. If we do not get money we will not keep on going and bankrupt
the system of the University. Last night on television, a report
indicated that 14% (42 million) Americans do not have medical insurance.
One-half
of the one million of non-insured Virginians are treated by MCV.
Jason Rife asked, “What do you project personnel cut levels
to be?”
Dr. Trani: At a couple hundred positions, of which, half
are not filled now. The University has four currencies: FTE currency,
space currency, money currency and lines currency. At Virginia Tech
there was an incentive program (for people 30 years in the VRS system and
55 years old or older) that worked. We will look at that and will
take it to the Board in November. Bob Andrews saw this. It
worked at VA Tech; if here, it could free up lines to replace and to recruit.
Roy McKelvey asked how the budget reductions will impact the
work on accreditation.
Dr. Trani: I just came from a meeting with accreditors
in two programs. Some standards for 2002 that were set in 2001 will
not be able to make it. There is systematic disinvestment across
the US - ACSB standards, AASA standards. This is everywhere in the
country. It’s bad here but even worse in other states. The
chancellor at the University of Nebraska said these are the worst cuts
since the Great Depression. Imagine. I do not know what the
accreditors will do. They cannot play the resource game of program
A over B. What does it say about a push away from Tenure/track
faculty to more adjunct? These are serious questions. If
we wait for the state to straighten out the mess we will be overrun.
We need to be proactive. I have not heard from one legislator
who is interested in a tax increase. Accreditation is not just an
issue for VCU but all universities because the financial base has changed.
Judy Lewis asked how can the University still protect junior
faculty members, i.e, faculty travel money for conferences. She
voiced concern that the University cannot afford to lose its best and brightest.
Dr. Trani: The VCU faculty teaches more courses, a
higher percent, than any other faculty within universities in Virginia.
We do not make use of graduate student teaching. We don’t do it.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it was said by a student that he
“could not pick out a professor from a lineup because he never has seen
one”. We build buildings in which we have classrooms that can only
have 50 students. We graduate about 125 Ph.Ds a year. What
if we grant 250 Ph.D. degrees a year and give these graduate students instructional
duties? These are issues that certain schools with PhD programs should
look at. This has to do with doubling the research budget.
We have people on 12-month salaries who are not funded. The University
of Pittsburgh funds only 50% of faculty salaries. We need a system
where we keep the best. How do we use technology? Do we have
two secretaries in a department and are they absolutely necessary?
The answer can’t be simply that “we have had them since 1975.”
Iris Johnson asked what is in store for us in the upcoming years,
2005- 2007.
Dr. Trani: My remaining days as president will focus on changes.
I have 4 1/2 years to my term and during this time we have to have more
out-of-state students. We have to find more private funding.
We must preserve the teaching and research infrastructure as much as possible
and also bring in as much outside funding as possible.
Dan Ream asked if Motorola’s recent decision to stop projects
in Richmond would have an impact on the University.
Dr. Trani: It is sad they are not coming to Virginia.
It would have been a handy place for student internships and jobs.
If Motorola had not made the initial announcement that it was planning
to come, we would not have the Center and the 2 billion dollar structure
that has employed students. Motorola is keeping their commitment
to us (we are one of their twenty partners, the other in Virginia being
Virginia Tech). They will keep their commitment to our School of
Engineering.
Chris Turner indicated to the President that Faculty Senate has
been on top of the information campaign about the Bond bill.
Dr. Trani: With the budget situation, the Bond bill is
the only thing that higher education has right now. I think you will
see me and others before and on November 5th saying that this is a good
step. If the vote is successful, the Hibbs building, West Hospital,
Franklin Terrace, the Music Center and others will benefit. I
believe that Virginia’s policy for higher education is short sighted.
If the Bond bill does not go through, I do not see Hibbs being renovated
in the next decade. But, it does not look as if there is opposition
to the Bond bill. The Governor will be at a business council meeting
tomorrow. All but ten members of the House of Delegates have endorsed
the Bond bill.
A faculty senator restated what the Provost said at the previous Senate
meeting where emphasis during these tight budget times would be placed
on “Instruction and Research”. How will the library be impacted
by the cuts?
Dr. Trani: We have attempted to limit the cuts to the
library. There is concern among students about hours. I listen
to students. We do track students and their use of the facility after
9 o’clock. We are going to feel the cuts even more so than say how
UVA will feel them because they have other funding. We will need
to have growth in our out-of-state enrollment.
Dan Ream asked if there was any hope that state legislators
would be changing their views about Higher Education.
Dr. Trani: Not in the next two years. I want to
change the moorings of the University. 2,000 out-of-state students
is 2 million dollars a year. We need to grow the research budget
by 100 million dollars. I hope you understand the importance of those
activities. That is our future.
What about worse economic projections in July?
Dr. Trani: Who knows? It is a real possibility and
if we just sit here it will happen. I will not just sit. It
will not be fun to be in our positions for the next 5 to 6 years if we
do not do something. Who says we cannot have graduate students teaching
and 75 students in a class. What is in your control as faculty members…what
can you do?
Wes Poynor asked a question that he already brought up at a Faculty
Council meeting concerning the position for Vice President of Health Sciences.
Dr. Trani: A new VP for Health Sciences and CEO of VCU
Health Systems was appointed and will come in when Dr. Kontos retires.
The Hunter group came in with personnel recommendations. Donna Benzentsky
received an offer to go to Iowa. We had a vacancy there and they
recommended that the VP of Health Sciences be filled before filling the
two other positions. The Hunter recommendation was that Sheldon Retchin
be hired. I have known him for 25 years. The Health System
is a 75 million dollar system and could go bankrupt. I talked to
deans and chairs about the Hunter recommendation and both Boards unanimously
elected him. I accept full responsibility for that nomination.
The three key positions would have been only acting and we could not have
filled them without first filling the VP position. We do not do this
usually. We usually have national searches. Sheldon has an
impeccable resume and has been here for 25 years.
A senator asked if the cuts coupled with student surcharges could impact
the goal of attracting out-of-state students.
Dr. Trani: I think we are very attractive and have appeal
if marketed correctly. The School of the Arts is very attractive
compared to the Rhode Island School of Design. Life Sciences provides
extraordinary opportunity with six five-year master programs there.
What an opportunity for students! We should be able to recruit up
and down the East Coast. There are twenty-five out-of-state students in
the Master of Forensics program. We have not taken our out-of-state
recruitment seriously. Everyone knows about Virginia because friends
apply to UVA. We just want to add our name to that list of colleges
that people look at when thinking of studying out of their own states.
Wes Poynor brought up the document called Policy on Policies
and stated that, as he reads it, the policy does not say that the faculty
can be bypassed when making university policy.
Dr. Trani: To make sure that this does not happen is one
of the reasons the Faculty Senate President sits on President Council.
Wes Poynor underlined the fact that on July 22nd the Computer
Use policy was put into place without faculty input and therefore a
group in faculty senate will be looking at the document, especially the
area concerning email privacy of faculty communications. The bar
for being able to search through faculty email should be higher than what
is currently in the policy.
Dr. Trani: We cannot bypass state law. I should
also point out that very few presidents of faculty senates sit on President
Councils.
In concluding his discussion with faculty senators, Dr. Trani said, “I need your help to take control of our destiny. First, lets get the bonds and then move forward with cuts and then enhance the resources of this institution."
Dr. Peter S. Kirkpatrick
Faculty Senate Secretary-Treasurer