In the face of impending cuts in funding from the state, administrators at Mississippi State University are looking at how the university dealt with tough economic times in the past for ideas to tackle today’s funding problems.
According to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning 2010-2012 MSU budget projections, there could be as much as a 25 percent cumulative reduction in total state funding – approximately 47 million dollars.
Vice president of finance and administration Mike McGrevey said approximately 46 percent of MSU’s on-campus budget comes from state appropriations. This year alone, 5 percent of the university’s funds were cut.
McGrevey said the university is in the early stages of planning additional reductions as personnel have been informed of the likelihood of an additional 3 percent cut.
“There must be a balance or right mix of cuts, efficiencies, tuition increase and other reductions,” he said. “We can’t cut our way out, efficiency our way out, tuition our way out – it has to be a combination.”
McGrevey said groups from the MSU community will challenge the way the university currently conducts business operations to support MSU’s mission.
“They will identify a range of opportunities and supporting alternatives that go beyond just technical adjustments, but instead at the heart of what drives cost – strategy, organizational structure, standards processes and methods,” he said.
Faculty Senate President Hart Baily said MSU’s history shows the university’s faculty has faced such challenges many times in its 131-year history. He said the faculty’s responsibility has always remained concerned with matters affecting the academic community and welfare of the university.
“Our university governance document states that faculty, staff and students should be involved with the administration in discussions concerning financial matters that affect the university,” he said.
The senate conducted the election and Keenum also appointed Meghan Millea, Faculty Senate vice president, Sam Manning, chairman of the Professional Staff Advisory Council, Mary Vaugh, vice chair of the Professional Staff Advisory Council, Student Association President Blake Jeter, and Bailey, to the SCEI.
Provost Peter Rabideau said it is important the members of this committee are dedicated to the university’s well-being as a whole.
“We bring representatives from all areas of the university together and ask them to focus on the overall university and not be protective of their own areas – this is a lot to ask,” he said. “But I am confident that the excellent group of individuals assembled is up to the task.”
Rabideau said in his charge to the Select Committee on Efficiencies and Innovations, President Keenum suggested the members begin the process by considering the document “Commitment to Excellence: A Planning Agenda for MSU through the Year 2001.” The document was submitted in 1992 to then President Donald Zacharias to address budget challenges very similar to the ones the university faces today.
“My plan, as committee co-chair for academics, is to recommend that the committee consider the guiding principles and action plans within this document since they are as important and relevant today as they were in 1992,” he said.
Rabideau said the fundamentals outlined in this report are especially important. They include such passages as “None of our Existing Programs are Without Merit but Some are More Needed or More Central than Others,” “The Current MSU Resource Base is Inadequate to Sustain the Quality of All of Our Existing Program” and “While Undergraduate Education Remains a Priority, Graduate Education and Research are Inextricably Related and Central to Our Mission.”
“The potential budget cuts in the next several years are substantial and may well require transformative changes,” Rabideau said. “Accordingly, I expect that, as done for the 1992 report, we will need to consider the restructuring of colleges, the merger of departments and the possible elimination of programs that don’t meet appropriate criteria.”
McGrevey said every option is on the table, but one sure way to help combat the budget cuts is for MSU to continue increasing enrollment. He also said the MSU Foundation has continued to be successful in gathering financial support for the university from alumni and friends, despite the poor economy.
“We are all pressing hard and expect continued success in the future on both fronts,” he said. “We will provide all information and data for complete transparency to the community in reports. Hopefully, state revenue will bottom out and begin to climb back up.”
Bailey said he hopes MSU will continue to grow and remain a top-notch university.
“Our faculty and staff represent the very best minds in their respective fields, and they will bring their collective intellectual resources to bear on this challenge,” Bailey said. “This effort will ensure that State continues to be the best university we can be, not only at this time, but with an eye on the future.”