Faculty requires other cuts before furloughs

In a recent survey of 360 faculty union members, nearly 88 percent opposed the idea of furloughs unless similar pay cuts were made to the university’s auxiliary programs, including intercollegiate athletics, the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center and the Wellness and Recreation Center.

The furloughs, or unpaid leave, are part of the university’s plan to eliminate $8.8 million from its budget as a result of the recent reduction in state funding. According to the results from the survey, which was conducted between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1 by United Faculty, the University of Northern Iowa’s faculty union, the majority of faculty members expressed that they were open to furloughs, which some members thought should be defined as a temporary salary cut.
   
“The faculty are willing to do what it takes to help make the budget balanced, but we also need to know that the university is making good faith efforts in cutting other programs,” said Christopher Martin, journalism professor and member of the Communications Committee for United Faculty. “Our primary concern is to make sure that the academic part of the university doesn’t really bear the brunt of pay cuts and cost cutting.”

According to a study conducted two years ago by United Faculty President Hans Isakson, UNI ranks highest in auxiliary enterprises and next to last in instructional spending among nine peer schools, which were selected by the state Board of Regents for comparison with UNI.

One reason for the large amount of auxiliary spending is the lack of self-sufficiency in some university programs.

“Some of the operations — the two biggest ones are the athletics and the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center — are money-losing operations,” Martin said. “So we just want to make sure that we’re not subsidizing those to the extent that it undermines the educational quality at UNI.”

While freshman wide receiver Timmy Johnson doesn’t wish to see the budget cuts, he acknowledges the importance of academics for a university.

“If budget cuts need to be made, then they need to be made to help the university, because the school comes before the program. You’re the student before the athlete,” he said. “But our football team, our basketball team, if they’re benefiting, like making money for the school, then I would keep them, but if they’re not doing their job, then they should be cut.”

Junior psychology major Rhiannon Talbot is currently enrolled in “The Idea of a University: An Examination of American Higher Education,” a seminar that examines the nature of a university. Talbot believes that the importance of athletics in modern culture reflects a change in the public conception of the university.

“We are no longer thinking about investing in universities as investing in the future of the citizenry — you know, it educates citizens, they make better choices, they donate to charity more, they’re more able to pay their taxes,” she said. “But now that we just hear, ‘oh, a college education will get you a million more in a lifetime,’ it’s, ‘OK, students are investing in their future and we don’t have to support that anymore.’ Except what people do support is sports, and I think that’s wrong.”

While Talbot supports funding cuts to UNI’s athletics program, she doesn’t condone cuts for the performing arts center.

“As far as intercollegiate athletics go, it’s completely different from the performing arts center, because the PAC is used for classes — the School of Music is one of the big powerhouses on campus, and it houses so many of those things,” she said. “Intercollegiate athletics have nothing to do with academics whatsoever.”

Senior linebacker Josh Mahoney, however, feels that athletics are an extremely important part of a university.

“If you’re able to supplement academics with the types of programming available at the WRC, the performing arts center and athletics, that’s really what makes it a university,” he said. “It’s having these opportunities available for students. It kind of goes with the entire mission of the liberal arts core — you’re building students’ minds and part of that education involves some of these programs.”

While Mahoney doesn’t wish to see cuts to auxiliary programs, he does recognize the necessity of pay cuts in rough economic times.

“It’s a no-win situation when you’re cutting programming — it all comes to trade-offs and priorities,” he said. “The teachers are the backbone of the university and so obviously, they’re first and foremost. But at the same time, if there’s a way to supplement standard classroom work with the types of programs available, that’s really what makes Northern Iowa such a great place and the reason why so many students choose to come here.”

United Faculty has previously met with the university administration to discuss the measures the university will take to close the budget gap and met again yesterday.

 

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