Notes from Dr. Templin’s Town Hall Meeting on December 4, 2008 at Loudoun Campus

College Senate created the Ad Hoc Budget Crisis Committee (@13 minute mark)
which works with the Administrative Council to find solutions to budget crisis.  They broke up into 5 working groups to investigate such things as how to raise more money, how to save money, etc.

Ad Hoc committee recommended the following possible cuts (@10:21 mark) – implemented effective November 2008
1. Freeze vacant positions
2. Reduce special funding projects
3. Reduce technology plan 10%
4. Reduce M and O funding 5%
5. Reduce printing and postage
6. Restrict travel and discretionary purchases
7. Reduce library purchases
8. Reduce deferred maintenance.

Full-time faculty are crucial (@ 22:21 mark)
“We are not cannibalizing full-time faculty positions because they are the unit that gives us the capacity to teach the students…and we don’t want to jeopardize the quality of our instruction by replacing our full-time faculty with ever-greater numbers of part-time faculty….  If it’s not a good balance [full-time/part-time] we have a question of academic integrity and quality.”

Possible Additional Cuts (@25:30 mark)
1. Freeze new and vacant positions
2. Reduce m/o funding 10 %
3. Reduce technology plan 10%
4. Dramatic cuts in postage and printing
5. Freeze of travel and discretionary purchases
6. Significant cuts in library purchases
7. Significant reductions in deferred maintenance
8. Reduction in summer session expenses
9. Initiate involuntary leaves-of-absence without pay and layoffs

Comments on the high efficiency of e-learning (ELI and Hybrid) but cautions that hybrid rules need to be made (@37:15 mark)

Increasing Instructional Efficiency (@47:20 mark)
Talks about faculty loads and the fact that we don’t always follow state guidelines…says some faculty do not have full teaching loads and that some of them are even earning overloads on top of less-than-full loads (@48:17 mark)

Summer Session Cuts (@49:16 mark)
Says summer session is a very high-cost proposition per student and that the costs are not sustainable.  High cost includes higher-than-normal proportion of full-time vs. part-time faculty.  Students are largely transients NOT our normal students.  Wants the summer ratio of ft/pt to be same as during the regular year.  Says there is very high overhead because offices are fully staffed yet enrollments are a fraction of normal.

Says that involuntary leaves-of-absence is the “least desirable option.”