EMU’s management has, in the last five years, cut over $21 million from Academic Affairs, even as university revenues have grown by over $45 million.
Why? Because Welch Hall lacks qualified budget officials who comprehend the purposes for which a university exists. Because Welch Hall is out of touch with the campus, and because Welch Hall officials fail to understand that EMU’s student retention problem is tied to the quality of academic programs we can provide for our juniors and seniors.
My sources for these budget figures are as follows:
1. the document “Four Year History of Budget Reductions” dated July 21, 2006 and prepared by the Division of Academic Affairs, which covers the fiscal years 2004 thru 2007, and notes that for that four year period, the total cut to the Division was $17,987,536;
2. the Ann Arbor News article on the EMU budget, published Oct. 7, 2007, which notes that for the current fiscal year, which started July 1, 2007, “Academic Affairs took a cut of more than $4 million”;
and 3. the May 15, 2007 Business and Finance Division’s one page document on Eastern Michigan University “Revenues,” which lists $245,914,967 as EMU’s revenue for 2001 and, for 2006, revenues of $289,519,396.
So the numbers I’m using understate the size of cuts to academics: The actual cut to academics in this five year period is probably over $22 million, as in the four year period it was nearly $18 million, and for this year it is over $4 million. Further, the university’s revenues for the current fiscal year are no doubt substantially above what they were last year (given the 8% tuition increase, and increased funds, nearly $8 million, from the state).
Despite increasing revenues, EMU has cut funds for academics, which means instruction, by an average of about $4.4 million per year for five years.
“Education First” indeed!
I urge faculty members to attend the special Session of the Faculty Council tomorrow at 3pm, which will be devoted to a discussion of the University budget. Senior VP Don Loppnow and the VP of Business & Finance, Janice Stroh, who controls budget decisions, are to be in attendance. This Faculty Council meeting is open to the entire EMU faculty.
Budgets are how priorities are set. If EMU really means to be a university that puts “Education First” substantively and not just in terms of empty rhetoric, we need a far better budget making process. This Faculty Council meeting is a step in that direction, and I commend the leaders of FC for putting it together, and Don and other administrators for their cooperation.
