Budget Crisis Update

Budget reduction plans could mean larger class sizes
Nearly 50 courses, some part-time
faculty could be cut

David Forbes - Staff Writer

Appalachian State University students may soon face larger classes, fewer instructors and reduced support if state officials order the implementation of budget reduction plans ranging from 1 percent to 4 percent.

The budget cut plans, requested by the University of North Carolina Office of the President, detail the effects of potential reductions, in response to Gov. Mike Easley directing universities to identify possible cuts that would not severely harm instruction or academics.

Following that request from UNC President Molly Broad, Appalachian State officials are currently preparing plans for the possibility of 5 percent to 10 percent budget cuts. Universities throughout the state-supported system are facing the same dilemma and have been told to submit identical plans.

“We tried to focus on vacant positions, equipment, travel, areas where real people were not adversely affected,” said Jane Helm, vice chancellor for Business Affairs, whose office coordinated and put together the four budget cut plans.

“The effect that would be most noticeable to students would be such things as somewhat larger classes,” said Bill Ward, associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “Under the 4 percent plan, we would give up some faculty positions, the money from which is presently being used to fund a large number of part-time instructors.”

Approximately 47 courses, many of them in the core curriculum, would go unfilled if these faculty positions were eliminated, leading not only to larger classes but also to the possibility that some students would not be able to enroll for classes in their preferred semester, according to the budget reduction plan obtained by The Appalachian.

“Virtually all of our departments, such as English and history, that teach large numbers of freshmen sections use considerable numbers of part-time instructors,” said Ward. “Following the logic, you can assume that the departments hit hardest by this would be those who teach a large number of introductory classes.”

“Appalachian has long held to the principle that smaller classes are better. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that as those classes get larger, we run the risk of students learning less,” said Ward. “I would certainly say the core curriculum would experience a negative effect.
Not a crippling one, but I don’t think classes would be as good as they are at their current size.”

“You would also probably have difficulty getting as much help in a computer or science lab,” continued Ward. “Due to the fact that staffing in various areas would probably be reduced.”

“It will be a second year of losing ground for people that are paid very low salaries to start with,” said Helm of the impact the cuts would have on the staff. “The likelihood of a pay increase this year is very slim.”

“The last thing we want to do is jeopardize the jobs of our people. We will still do everything possible to resist terminating any positions that have people in them,” said Ward. “People are the very last thing we want to sacrifice.”

Though it would not be as noticeable to students, a reduction of clerical help in the various departments would also have a negative effect, said Ward.

“Definitely the support areas would be hit hard,” agreed Helm.
“Maintenance won’t be done on buildings, we’ll have fewer police cars and we won’t be able to support our staff’s professional development as well as we should.”

BUDGET QUANDRY
“We’ve had tremendous growth in North Carolina. Even if the revenues are higher than last year, the demands are so great it’s a financial burden,” said Helm of the reasons for the budget difficulties faced across the state. “Hurricanes, floods [and] lawsuits have basically hit us all at one time.”

Appalachian has already incurred a 1.7 percent permanent reduction in state funds for the 2002-2003 year.

“I think that what most people don’t realize is that we’re not starting out as healthy as we were this time last year,” said Helm. “A permanent cut is very painful.”

With the North Carolina budget picture still foggy, Ward cautioned a massive reduction in Appalachian’s state-supported operating budget could do damage to the institution’s primary focus.

“Certainly if we got up to [a 10 percent cut], I think the quality of education on our campus would have to suffer,” said Ward.

“We would do our best to avoid a general descent into mediocrity. The best answer in that case might be to get rid of some programs as a way of trying to maintain high quality in the others.”

Given the fact the N.C. General Assembly will not gather for its short session until May 18, there are a bevy of unanswered questions for all state agencies, including the UNC system.

“Anybody who tells you they know is lying,” said Ward of his knowledge of what cuts would finally be needed.

“I do know, at least second or third hand that some important legislators have already said that 4 percent won’t be enough. We’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop.” Helm echoed Ward’s sentiments, stating the state’s budget shortfall is still an unresolved quandary.

“I think the reason we all feel so uncomfortable at this point is that we haven’t resolved the problem. We haven’t found an answer to the deficit,” said Helm. “If we don’t find an additional source of revenue, then cuts have to be made. By law, we have to balance the budget.”

Brantz to receive teaching award

Chris Bohle - Staff Writer

Dr. Rennie Brantz’s love of teaching and his ability to reach out to students has earned him the Award for Excellence in Teaching, an honor given by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors annually.

The award is granted to just one teacher at each of the 16 UNC campuses. Brantz, a Department of History faculty member, won the award after being anonymously nominated and then sending in a packet of personal information, including an essay detailing his teaching philosophies and methods.

“It was certainly quite nice [to win the award],” said Brantz.

During a recognition luncheon to be held in conjunction with the BOG’s May meeting, Brantz will receive a commemorative bronze medallion and $7,500.

Brantz attended Doane College, a small, liberal arts school in Crete, Neb., for his undergraduate degree at a time when he still was not sure about his career path.

“I was torn between law school and teaching for a long time,” said Brantz.

But then just prior to his senior year, he was given a German Government Grant. Brantz had become interested in German language and history and had applied for this grant in order to study abroad.

Brantz spent the next year attending the University of Munich in Germany, learning the German culture and finally nailing down what he wanted to do with his life.

“After that year overseas I definitely wanted to be a teacher,” said Brantz. “I had some great instructors at Munich who helped me out a lot.”

Brantz said he went on to get his master’s degree and doctorate from Ohio State University before entering the job market. After several years, Brantz had not yet found a long-term job opportunity when one of his old teachers from Doane called him and gave him his much-desired opening.

“Dr. Rossman called me and said that there was this job available at Appalachian State,” said Brantz.

“So I thought I might as well look into it, and everything just worked out great from there.”

In the nearly 30 years since that day, Brantz has been the recipient of his fair share of honors. For his work as director of Appalachian’s Freshman Seminar Program, he was named an Outstanding Freshman Advocate by the National Resource Center for the Freshman Year Experience.

Brantz has also received the Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award and Teacher of the Year in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Brantz is also part of possibly one of the most recognized classes on Appalachian, that of the Human Cultures: Nazi Holocaust class.

The honors class is team-taught by Brantz and Dr. Zohara Boyd of the Department of English, who has first-hand experience of the Holocaust (see related story, page 3).

“[Working with Dr. Boyd] is a great experience,” said Brantz. “She is extraordinarily knowledgeable on the subject, and she addresses issues that I could not.”

Brantz said the class has been a huge success since its inception six years ago, and students come away thinking differently afterwards.

It was this class that perhaps propelled Brantz into recognition from the Board of Governors and peers alike. But he is not in it for the awards, he said.

“My goal in teaching is to reach others and feel like I have made a difference,” said Brantz. “That’s what I care about.”

Elite Dancers a disappointing 13th at national competition

Crystal Thompson - Staff Writer

The Appalachian State University Black and Gold Elite Dancers placed 13th in Division I at the recent national competition.

“We did not do well at all. We made some mistakes that we wouldn’t have made during practice,” said captain Deanna Dutting.

The judges gave them a score of 6.00 out of a possible 10.00 (plus bonus camp points). They tied with the University of Connecticut.

“It’s heartbreaking when you put all this effort into something you love to do and not place well. We didn’t have any support out there, besides my mother. We were by ourselves,” said Dutting.

That is only part of the reason why they think they did not do as well as they could have.

“This was an expensive trip. We had fundraisers to pay for it, but there was still the registration fee, which is about $300 per dancer. My mother made our uniforms for free,” said Dutting.

“We also had Nicole Price, the Carolina Panthers’ Top Cat choreographer, come in and coach us. If we could get financial support from the university, we would be able to continue to employ the use of people like Nicole,” said Dutting.

Because the Black and Gold Elite Dancers are not considered an athletic team, the university does not support them financially.

“We’ve been trying to get some support from the university, but we always get the same answer that we are not an athletic club, so we can’t be funded by the university,” said Dutting.

“We get to be on the sidelines for some of the games, but other than that we don’t get to dance at any of the games, so we don’t get as much publicity as the dance team does.”

We don’t get as much floor time as they do, so we don’t get the support,” said Dutting.

The team is fighting now to get recognition as an athletic group.

“We are trying to get the university to acknowledge us as athletes so we can get more support both financially and when we go to competitions,” said Dutting.

The Black and Gold Elite Dancers used rain as the theme during the competition.

“We used songs like ‘It’s Raining Men’ by The Pointer Sisters; we had jackets with rain drops to match our theme too. We didn’t want plain jackets,” said Dutting.

Although the team did not place well they didn’t leave empty-handed either.

“I won’t be here next year, but the other girls who will have the experience now that they need to place better in the coming years and they learned from this,” said Dutting. “We stayed to watch to see what the other teams were doing that we didn’t do. We wanted to see what got them to finals. We wanted to see what we were lacking in,” she said.

The Black and Gold Elite Dancers said they are not giving up though.
“There’s next year and they have the experience now,” said Dutting.

Commencement activities scheduled for mid-May

Staff Reports

Appalachian State commencement activities will take place May 18-19.

The Reich College of Education will conduct a ceremony May 18 at 10 a.m. in Farthing Auditorium.

Graduates will view a media presentation highlighting their accomplishments.

Graduates in the Hayes School of Music will receive degrees May 18 at 1 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Grammy Award-winner Doc Watson will be the speaker.

The College of Fine and Applied Arts will feature N.C. Congressman Cass Ballenger as guest speaker in a ceremony May 18 at 4 p.m. in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center.

The College of Arts and Sciences will hold commencement activities May 19 at 10 a.m. in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center with speaker Jack Perry, retired diplomat and former director of the Dean Rusk Program in International Studies at Davidson College.

Graduates in the Cratis Williams Graudate School will receive degrees May 19 at 1 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium. Speaking will be N.C. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue.

The Walker College of Business commencement activities will take place May 19 at 4 p.m. in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center. Guest speaker will be president and CEO of Meldisco, a footwear manufacturer and distributor, Jeffrey A. Shepard.