The faculty senate held its second meeting on Sept. 19, during which it elected officers and welcomed ULM President Ron Berry.
The senate settled election matters postponed at the last meeting.
Faculty senators nominated Pat McGuire for the position of parliamentarian, and he assumed the position immediately. According to the faculty senate’s constitution and by-laws, the parliamentarian advises the president by ruling on the validity of the business conduct at each meeting.
The senate elected Sen. Hilary Tice, an assistant clinical sciences professor, president, and Sen. Mark Johnson, an assistant criminal justice professor, secretary. They will assume their positions next fall, serving in advisory and assisting positions this year.
Following the election, Berry introduced university-wide budget cuts of some $2 million to the faculty senate. The president fielded questions from senators regarding budget cuts and class capacity.
During the meeting, Jeff Anderson, president of the faculty senate, told Berry that faculty had numerous questions regarding the university’s budget.
“One question that’s come my way quite a bit is about budget. [Faculty] are coming from an understanding that we were good, and now we’ve got problems,” Anderson said.
Berry told senators that the state legislature may not renew a temporary tax that benefits state-owned healthcare and higher education.
“We didn’t want to cause panic, but the governor’s office asked the board of regents to give each university across the state a budget for 9% cuts and 7% cuts,” Berry said. “That’s about $9 million and $7 million for us, just as preparation.”
Bracing for the potential impact, Berry informed senators that his administration had taken steps to reduce the university’s budget from some $5 million to some $3 million.
Berry said the university is trying to “force efficiencies” in various areas, including cutting classes with low enrollment.
“Some faculty are teaching classes with seven kids in them, and they’re teaching these undergrad classes every semester,” he said. “We can’t continue to do that because that’s taking dollars away from other programs that are exploding.”
Berry explained that the university desires to fund larger programs rather than maintain small classes each semester.
He told the senate that faculty frequently voices concerns that students will not be able to graduate if ULM does not offer the required courses.
“My response was, you’ve got summer,” he said. “You’ve got to better manage the limited resources we have.”
Anderson mentioned to Berry that colleges considered cutting summer and winter programs due to low enrollment and lack of funding. Berry replied that Academic Affairs Vice President Mark Arant was working to decide enrollment requirements to offer classes.
Berry admitted that higher administration had not adequately communicated with faculty about the budget changes. He invited representatives from the faculty senate to attend administrative council meetings, which includes the vice presidents, the ULM Foundation, the legal counsel and the internal auditor.
“If that’s something you want to do, we certainly invite you to the table,” Berry said.