BAC ANNOUNCES RECOMMENDATIONS

The Budget Alternatives Committee this afternoon presented its recommendations for reducing the university's general fund budget by nearly $12.8 million over two years. The bulk of that total - $9.6 million - would apply to fiscal year 2004, which begins July 1. The remaining $3.2 million would apply to fiscal year 2005. BAC co-chairs Fred Joyal (Academic Affairs) and Mike Roy (Finance and Administration, pictured at left) explained the specifics to a capacity crowd of employees, students and community members who attended a university forum in Jamrich 102.

"The BAC recommendations are significant and hit virtually every office or department on campus, but they do not completely offset the university's $10.2 million shortfall for fiscal year 2004," Roy said.

The proposal would impact 95 full-time equivalent positions. This includes 58 employee layoffs, 19 vacant positions that would not be filled and seven positions notched down from their current 12-month status to a reduced appointment. Some open faculty positions would be filled at a lower rank and/or salary. Others would be covered by adjuncts or by 13 senior staff who will see either portions or all of their assignments shifted from administrative to teaching responsibilities. Some graduate assistant appointments would not be renewed.

The BAC estimates that the university would save about $2.1 million in salary costs by instituting no pay increases for faculty, administrative professionals and non-represented staff for 2004 and "lower than projected" increases for these same groups in 2005. The AAUP and AP contracts are slated for negotiation later this year. Of the positions identified for layoffs, the breakdown by employee groups is as follows: 13 clerical/technical, 14 non-represented and 28 administrative professionals.

Much of the AP total can be attributed to recommendations to reduce and eventually suspend operations at both Public Radio 90 and Public TV-13. This would result in a total savings of $1.1 million over two years - in large part through the elimination of five non-represented, 21 AP and four CT positions. The U.S. Olympic Education Center would also be phased out, saving $591,000 over two years and resulting in the loss of 8.5 positions.

"We know these programs are valued by the community, which makes these proposed cuts very difficult," Roy said. "But the cuts cannot be avoided unless permanent funds are secured to keep the stations and USOEC operating."

Other areas identified for elimination include health promotions and labor education. In the academic area, no undergraduate majors would be impacted, but two graduate programs would be cut: communication disorders and psychology. The university will place a hold on bringing in a new cohort for the graduate-level nursing program, based in part on increased demand at the undergraduate level.

"Change is never comfortable or easy and a number of positions held by very good people are affected by these recommendations," Joyal said. "The BAC worked hard to come up with suggestions that reduced costs while at the same time preserving the quality of an NMU education for the sake of current and future students. These were difficult choices to make, but the committee did its best to fulfill its charge of evaluating every recommendation in terms of the university's mission, vision statement and impact on student enrollment."

The BAC recommendations also call for the merging or restructuring of departments and offices. Biology and chemistry would be combined, as would the duo of mathematics/computer science and physics. There would also be a merger involving economics, geography and political science. Counseling and consultation services would be restructured. The director and one counselor would work with the health center to continue to provide services. The remaining two counselors would be transferred to education and psychology as full-time teaching faculty.

The Glenn T. Seaborg Center would be restructured and consolidated with the education department, with the director and assistant director assigned to faculty positions. Joyal said NMU will maintain the K-12 outreach portion of the Seaborg Center's mission.

The duties currently carried out by graduate studies and research would be divided between the registrar's office and the respective departments or colleges. There is a recommendation to merge administrative responsibilities of the LPN and nursing programs and another to combine office operations of alumni relations and the development fund.

Recreation and athletics would be reorganized, resulting in a reduction of one associate vice president, one senior administrator, one coaching position, one AP and one CT. There would also be reduced-time appointments for six AFSCME staff and one clerical/technical employee. Women's tennis and Alpine skiing would be dropped, but women's track would be added. The latter move fulfills NCAA regulations for a spring sport.

The largest impact to students would be the loss of on-campus employment. Student labor will be reduced by nearly $113,000, which represents about 3 percent of total student labor costs earmarked for the current academic year. The figure equates to about 40 jobs, based on 15-hour work weeks during the academic year. The BAC did not recommend changing the university's commitment to financial aid, including scholarships.

In addition to the impact on student services and academic programs described above, the Wildcat Shuttle would no longer be offered and students would see an increase in optional fees for parking (from $50 to $60 per year) and recreation memberships (from $30 to $50 per semester).

"There will be tuition increases in this climate," Roy added.

An economic impact estimate provided by Jim Scheiner (Business) indicates that the ripple effect of the BAC recommendations in the Marquette community could exceed $20 million.

"These recommendations represent the loss of great programs and great people who do their jobs extremely well, which is what makes this situation even harder to face," said NMU President Judi Bailey. "The bottom line is that we need to maintain a balanced budget. Please keep in mind that this is not just a Northern problem - all state universities are facing similar fiscal crises. Also, the material presented here is strictly in the form of recommendations, not final decisions. We will accept constructive feedback from students, employees, alumni and community members before we bring final recommendations to the Board of Trustees."

Employees whose positions are impacted by the recommendations should contact Lynne Sundblad or Sue Menhennick in human resources to explore potential options.

To submit input via an online form, or to review the complete overview of BAC recommendations, visit www.nmu.edu/bac. Those unable to attend Thursday's forum can hear what transpired via streaming audio from a link at the same Web address.