Western freshman Mario Orallo (left center) listens to Roger Gilman (left), dean of Fairhaven College, share ideas on how to handle changes to the upcoming biennium's budget on March 6 in the Fairhaven Auditorium. Fairhaven admissions coordinator LeeChe Leong (right center) and Fairhaven advising coordinator Jackie McClure (right) also attended the meeting, which was specifically for Fairhaven students to discuss budget changes. photo by Carolyn Copstead

Thirteen students and faculty from Fairhaven College gathered in the Fairhaven Auditorium to talk about the budget situation and what Fairhaven is planning, but the discussion quickly turned to students volunteering to help.

It began with a suggestion that teachers save paper by using Blackboard or other Web sites for all their courses and turned into an offer to reduce maintenance and set up a student vacuuming schedule, although the administration is leaving it to students to implement the propositions.

“We all need to participate,” said Western sophomore Anna Bohm, who attended the forum to learn about the process of retaining temporary faculty during the hiring freeze. “We came together as a community to support one another and pick up our own slack in the ways we can continue to thrive as a community.”

Fairhaven College has prepared its two budget proposals, one at a 5 percent cut and one at 3.8 percent, each of which takes most of their hits from its $39,000 operating budget and not staff salary, which would affect class availability, Kathy Hutchinson, assistant to the dean of the college, said.

Summer school, a money-maker for the university because of the tuition income, was one of the ways students suggested to help the university save money. By taking classes during the summer and encouraging others to sign up during the quarter, the students saw the opportunity to bring more income to the school.

Another way students suggested to cut costs was to put course evaluations, which students fill out to provide feedback on their classes at the end of the quarter, online.

While some participants suggested students would be less likely to go online and fill out the form, most students said it was a good idea.

Because of the pinch students will feel in their own pockets from increased tuition and increased course fees, Advising Coordinator for Fairhaven College Jackie McClure said the college has been focused on how to keep things as similar to this year as possible for the students.

“Asking students to step up was not something we had considered,” she said.

Gilman said the goal of the college is to keep classes as open as possible for students, although two vacant faculty positions, unfilled because of the hiring freeze, have the potential to limit the amount of upper-level courses offered.

Other than that, there would be no major effect to the students, Gilman said.

“We are [preparing to scale] way back to bare bones so there are no cuts in your classes,” he assured students at the forum.

In Fairhaven College's budget proposals, the maintenance budget, for example, could be cut in half from $2,000 to $1,000.

“We may need to patch some things with toothpaste,” Hutchinson said, but said she is confident that the faculty and staff will be able to leave the quality and availability of the classes as unchanged as possible for students.  

Although Western junior Roza Skenderova said she does not like to read text on a computer screen, she said online syllabi and handouts were a good idea. If she had to choose where the cuts were going to be, Skenderova said she would rather read online than not be able to sign up for classes she wanted.

Gilman said one of the most important things for students to do during this time is to get accurate information and to stay involved.

“When things get this bad, we are all very stressed” he said. “Under those conditions, we are susceptible to rumors.”

Gilman encouraged students to check university-maintained Web sites and evaluate the facts they hear.

On March 18, the colleges will present their proposals, which will be webcast.

The school is also maintaining its forum for busting budget rumors and offering ideas for budget cuts at http://forum.wwu.edu/forum/192.

Share this article:
                                   

Be first to comment on this article

Only registered users can post comments.
Please login or register.