Vicky Smith
Managing Editor
@pinkwritinglady
Cameron President Dr. John McArthur spoke to faculty, staff and students about the fiscal state of the university at 2 p.m. on Feb. 29 in the MCC Ballroom.
McArthur said the budget shortfall of FY2017 has resulted in the release of faculty and staff, as well as the reduction of campus services.
In FY2017, the university is expected to undergo one of three budget reduction scenarios.
McArthur said the first scenario is based on Governor Mary Fallin’s “State of the State” address, in which she said the proposed state budget would cut state agencies by six percent.
“Based on where we are now with that 1.9 million dollar reduction so far,” McArthur said, “the amount Cameron would receive next year would be reduced by 4.3 million dollars.”
The second scenario McArthur discussed is based on an early Board of Equalization certification, which estimates Cameron will receive a reduction of 12.5 percent.
According to McArthur, the worst of the three scenarios is the last one, which is based on the current Board of Equalization estimate that the state shortfall will be 1.3 billion dollars.
“If that 1.3 billion dollars shortfall were passed through equally through all agencies,” he said, “Cameron’s share of that shortfall would be 6.8 million dollars.”
McArthur said the university is financially prepared to undergo the first scenario, the reduction of 4.3 million dollars. In the fall, he began phase one of three phases intended to prepare faculty, staff and students for the budget shortfall.
“During the input period, we collected over a 105 suggestions,” he said. “[For] the second phase … we compiled a list and distributed it to our employees so that we could enter into a discussion phase so that we would understand … the consequences of making the changes on that list.”
In a letter released to the Cameron public, McArthur said before making decisions, he solicited the opinions of students, faculty and staff.
“Our students would prefer that we not raise tuition and mandatory fees,” he said, “that we preserve scholarship programs and that we not delete academic programs on a time frame, which would impact the ability to graduate on time.
“Our employees would prefer that we maintain our current health and retirement benefits. Our faculty further suggested that we not reduce salaries or shorten the compensated work year.”
McArthur said the he is now leading phase three, in which he is publicizing the decisions that he carefully drew from the list of suggestions.
“We have a total 28 employees who have done great work for Cameron University, working well with our students [but] who – because of a shortfall in revenue – are not invited to join us on July 1,” he said. “To let those individuals know that because of projected budget shortfalls, that we can’t use their services anymore – that was the most difficult thing. … Most of those people I let go … I hired.
“I feel for them because they didn’t do anything wrong.”
McArthur asked the faculty and staff at the meeting to continue to show concern for the not only the well being of the students but also for their co-workers.
“You have done so well,” he said. “This has been such a trying time … Please continue to care of each other and to take care of this campus.”
Additional plans range from creating new schools and closing offices to consolidating computer labs and merging units at the academic departmental level.
In the letter, McArthur said he will reduce the administrative overhead of the university by eliminating five dean or director positions and three department chair positions.
“The Office of Adult and Continuing Education will be renamed the Office of Extended Education and will include the University Library and many of our enrichment programs,” he said. “The Office of Teaching and Learning will assume more direct control of Academic Advising.”
McArthur said newly formed departments will have working titles, pending further input from those within the units.
“Over Cameron’s history, there has been a real ebb and flow of departments,” he said, “so the departments we put back together today have been together in the past.”
For a full, detailed list of the decisions, which will go into effect on July 1, faculty, staff and students should check their Cameron email accounts for McArthur’s letter, sent by Keith Mitchell.
McArthur said at this time, there is not a proposal to increase to tuition or mandatory fees.
“We have maintained or increased all scholarship amounts,” he said. “For employees, salary and benefits have not been changed.”
McArthur said he is grateful for the faculty, staff and students’ commitment to Cameron.
“This is not a year that any of us care to repeat financially,” he said. “I appreciate the thoughtful suggestions and ideas presented, and I could not be more proud of the civil discourse.”
President McArthur included the following information
in a letter he released to the Cameron public on March 2:
Academic Departmental Level and Programmatic Changes
• Merge or repurpose several units for greater effectiveness and efficiency. The newly formed departments will have working titles pending further input from the faculty and staff within the units.
-The School of Arts and Sciences will include the following departments: Agriculture and Biological Sciences; Art, Music, and Theatre Arts; Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering; Communication; English and Foreign Languages; Mathematical Sciences; and Military Science.
-The School of Graduate and Professional Studies will include the following departments: Business; Computing and Technology; Education; Psychology; Social Sciences; and the Sports and Exercise Science.
• Begin the process of teaching out the associate and baccalaureate programs in Multimedia Design.
• Close the Office of Academic Enrichment and the Cameron office at Fort Sill.
• Pursue outsourcing of campus custodial services.
• Discontinue the Livestock Judging Team and the Check It Out Books program.
• Skip one year in our four year computer and classroom technology upgrade cycle and then extend the cycle to a five year rotation. Consolidate several small computer labs as part of this change.
• Continue to shift from printed paper items.
• Increase student service fees for ID cards and parking in order to purchase additional campus safety equipment and increase repair frequency for campus parking areas if approved by the State Regents.
• Increase rent for business incubator tenants in CETES.