University’s expansion plans not dampened by cuts
Posted on October 1, 2007
The JMU Board of Visitors approved a 7 percent, $5.3 million, budget reduction plan for the remainder of the 2007-08 year on Friday.
Charlie King said that in June JMU anticipated a problem for this fiscal year, in fact, the Commonwealth is $641 million short. King cited three reasons for the shortage: having anticipated too much growth, the slow housing market and underestimating the land preservation tax credit.
This shortage prompted the Commonwealth to ask JMU to cut its budget by 7.5 percent initially. President Rose met with the secretary of education in Richmond and said the cut was unfair since other state schools were only asked to cut their budgets by 5 percent. The cut was then reduced by $400,00 to a 7 percent cut.
King said the governor may change his mind and decide to treat all of higher education the same.
“We just don’t know how all of this is going to end up,” he said.
The Biennial Budget suggested a return of those cuts with a proposed a budget of $11 million for the 2008-09 year. At least $5 million would be returned from this year’s budget cut under the proposed plan.
“If the budget reduction is not fixed, that may change everything,” King said.
Senior Vice President of Student Affairs Mark Warner proposed a six year plan for the university, despite the budget cuts.
“There is a very good likelihood that if the budget reductions go forward that will not amount to much,” Warner said.
The Code of Virginia requires the university to have the plan in now, even if it will change in the future.
“We’re approving a snapshot right now, all of which could change,” Rose said.
The six year plan was approved on Fridayand included four major components: institutional narrative, academic intent, financial intent and enrollment intent.
Despite the focus of the meeting being on the budget reduction plan, President Linwood Rose looked at University progress as he entered his tenth year as president.
“I think most would choose the word ‘growth,’ to describe JMU in nine years,” he said. “But I think that would should be ‘quality.’”
Rose gave a run-down of the academic and physical expansion the University has seen in the past nine years, as well as development and training for faculty and staff. He also spoke to the increase in minority applicants by 87.8 percent as well an increase of private support to the university. Nine years ago there were no million dollar gifts, now there are 18 of them, Rose said.
Other topics of conversation throughout the day included student and alumni giving. The development committee discussed student and alumni giving for their current campaign period, which spans from July 2002 to June 30, 2008.
So far the committee has reached its first goal of collecting $50 million, which they had hoped to raise by the end of the 2008 fiscal year, according to JoAnn Carr, senior vice president for advancement. It hopes to have received an additional $50 million by 2014.
The committee was optimistic about money’s affect on the university.
“The long term impact on campus can be very positive,” Weston Hatfield, a committee member, said.
After separate committee meetings in the morning, the board reconvened for the Education and Student Life Committee. The meeting began with a presentation by ISAT professors Bob Kolvoord and Jonathan Miles and the Office of International Programs’ Lee Sternberger about a dual international degree program between the University of Malta and JMU. The program will allow students to earn a master’s degree in ISAT while studying sustainable environment and resources management in Malta. The program builds on a previous partnership with the University of Malta and offers international opportunities to potential JMU graduate students and JMU faculty.
The group spoke about the program as part of a larger strategy to promote international studies at JMU and share innovative Madison ideas with other schools.
“We can use this to share the ISAT model with other areas of the world,” said Miles. “We can explore the issues of administering a master’s in an international realm.”
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