Letter to the Editor from a concerned student and member of the KSU Student Governing Association.
Recently, the “trio” of Kansas State University administration unveiled a brand-new budget transformation process for the university. Dr. Richard Linton, the President of KSU, the Chief of Staff Dr. Marshall Stewart, and Provost Dr. Jesse Mendez are faced with millions of dollars in revenue shortfall and a hostile state legislature towards tuition increases, and certainly not more funding. The “trio,” and the many administrators underneath them, face a daunting task: keep KSU afloat. This is a much easier task said than done, and I do not envy their position. But the harm that they are doing to the various KSU colleges, faculty, and students, the so-called “lifeblood” of the university, is unforgivable.
There are three primary changes to the budget, presented Feburary 26th. The first is a new cash management pullback for General Use dollars. Year over year, unspent budgets will now be consolidated to administration. “Possible savings” for administration include a one-time, 10% budget pullback, and then an annually recurring 20% pullback across all university cash budgets to administration. Administration touts that this money will be reinvested into the university, but I suspect that the colleges that are receiving this tax will quickly adapt. Administration has not guaranteed that the cash pullbacks will be spent in the same department from which they were pulled from. To ensure their budgets remain theirs, departments will find new ways to fully spend their budget to ensure that their needs are met, and not those of the Administration. Instead of supporting the University, this move will only serve to weaken the trust between administration and colleges, as well as the overall financial health of the university at large.
Second, they plan to take over colleges' ability to fund Facilities and Administration (F\&A) by having the Vice President of Research command 90% of whom gets funding within colleges. While this may be a “common standard,” it also removes colleges' ability to independently choose what and who would be best suited for them. This decision ensures that the administration will have complete control over what research is conducted on K-State’s campus. That would consolidate power from the colleges into the hands of a select few administrators. It should be no surprise that Hans Coetzee, the Vice President of Research, sits on the board that decided this. Placing the power of what research is and is not done into the hands of an administrator, directly underneath the president, will impede the types of research that is being done by the university. Politics and funding, not the exploration of knowledge, will be the driving factor in research moving forward.
The third is a 5% “Operational Support Fee” on “select special revenue sources”. These special revenue sources contain both college fees and the student services fee (SSF), both of which students pay directly. Taking 5% of the $15 million-dollar SSF, which funds unique student needs, like the Rec Center, Union, and Lafene Health Center, equates to about $800,000 out of the hands of students. College fees will only continue to increase due to the administration’s grab for cash and power.
After the “trio’s” presentation, they were presented with several questions, none as important as this: “Will we look into removing administrators as opposed to removing faculty and staff?” The “trio” laughed, paused, and then claimed “that could be part of the consideration” and that they are “not trying to sidestep the question.” It was the shortest response of the night.
The reason the administration feels comfortable taking their budget from colleges and students is simple: they want to keep their paycheck. Just as a politician is incentivized to do whatever is required to get re-elected, administrators will do whatever they can to keep their cushy salaries, leadership retreats, and push their costs off on faculty and students. While universities were certainly designed to educate students by means of supporting faculty, it no longer seems that this is the priority of KSU. Instead, running the university like a business means an ever-expanding administration, dedicated not to students and learning, but to keeping the money at the top. Instead of funding quality faculty, providing living wages to Graduate Student Workers–of which KSU has some of the lowest paid in the country–and giving colleges the funds necessary to promote a learning environment that is befitting of a R1 research university, administration is determined to control the university at its own expense.
The answer for solving the “trio’s” unenviable task should start simply. Eliminate the funds that do not directly contribute to student learning. This does not include college materials necessary for learning – paper and pens for the philosophers, computer programs for the computer science nerds, or lab equipment for the chemistry labs. This does not include faculty salaries, without which there could be no learning. And this certainly does not include SSF and other student dollars, which are dedicated to the needs of the students who live and work on campus. What this does include is administrators. Administration can offer some support, to be sure. But when the org chart hosts over 100 positions that are taking away from the salaries of faculty and students, how much can truly be supported? Wouldn’t the lives of students and faculty be better if they had an extra hundred grand in their pockets? I surely think so.
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