Although most of Northwestern’s undergraduate schools will cutdown on operating expenses to meet universitywide budget cuts forthe 2003-04 academic year, the School of Music and Medill School ofJournalism might have to make tougher choices about faculty andcurriculum.
University officials announced in January that departmentbudgets across the board needed to be reduced by as much as 2.75percent.
Outgoing Music Dean Bernard Dobroski said his school might haveits faculty work less — teaching shorter and fewer courses andprivate music lessons — to make its 2 percent budget cut for theyear.
“Most of our faculty get paid by the number of lessons andcoachings,” Dobroski said. “So it won’t be whole courses being cut,but it might be less hours of courses being offered.
Many of our faculty don’t have full-time jobs,” he added. “Ifthey teach five courses, they might have to teach four.”
Administrators at Medill said they have a different strategy forfaculty expenses — leaving vacancies due to normal staff turnoverempty unless the position is essential. Some positions might beleft open for a month, but others could remain vacant for up to oneyear, depending on the school’s needs, said Medill Associate DeanRichard Roth.
“It’s just the reality of the situation,” he said. “When youlook at what’s going on in other parts of the country — and we allknow how the stock market is — lots of schools are sufferingbadly.”
In fact, other universities face much larger cuts. Privateuniversities across the country face cuts as high as 10 percent andlayoffs of faculty and staff.
Medill, on the other hand, must cut its budget by only 2.5percent — less than $100,000 — Roth said.
The school will ease the pain for faculty by reducing operationsexpenses, such as keeping a closer watch over the use of printers.Roth said the school spends about $25,000 a year on printer paperand toner.
Administrators from other NU schools said they are planning toenact similar cost-cutting strategies to help avoid facultyvacancies all together.
The School of Communication is looking to reduce spending of”discretionary resources” this year, said James Webster, anassociate dean of the school.
He said Communication might consider long-term budget changesafter a curriculum evaluation next year.
Daniel Linzer, dean of the Weinberg College of Arts andSciences, said he also has plans to reduce operational costs in thecollege as well as slow the pace of facility renovations andfaculty hiring.
Heather Haberaecker, associate dean of finance and budget forthe Feinberg School of Medicine, said the medical school probablywill have to reallocate certain grants that might have beenintended for other research activities in order to pay for facultysalary and fringe benefit increases.
The schools’ efforts to reduce operating costs might be an assetif they work together to reduce expenses, said Michael Besancon,associate dean for budget and finance for the McCormick School ofScience and Engineering.
Besancon said McCormick will try to purchase supplies, such aspaper and computers, in bulk with other NU schools to get lowerprices.
The engineering school also might have to defer plannedrenovations for the Technological Institute after the chemistry andbiology departments move into new science buildings.
“We’re having to cut back a little on the pencil side,” he said.”We think that just by being smart and cost conscious we can absorbthis 2 to 3 percent reduction in equipment and operations. We’repretty flexible and we take stuff in stride.”
The Daily’s Shruti Kumar contributed to this report.
