terrapinsanity.com

… the web master in charge of news at College Park has been taking a nap for much of the holidays:

Furloughs maybe? Too bad they took affect just before someone might have actually looked at the web site before posting it. Let’s see if this continues into the new year…

More rightsizing woes went on display in the media this morning. The Sun carried news of the likely reduction in classes in Yiddish on the College Park campus, which reflects some of the belt tightening in ARHU (College of Arts and Humanities.) And once again, leadership evidences ham-handed media relations by neither anticipating the potential for public reaction nor getting out in front of it.

The news is a study in contrasts. First, taking this report at face value, how different this plays out compared with the media reaction of Cordell Black’s forced move back to his home department. Both areas – black studies and Jewish studies – live with cultural hot buttons exposed for the pushing. Yet one change triggered protest and reporting about injustice, the other triggered explanation of the importance of the area and likely consequences of the loss – even though both changes, to a first order approximation, save campus about the same about of cash. Cordell’s change has relatively immediate budget impact – there is only prospective savings to allowing the instructor in Yiddish to go at end of the 2011 academic year. But only the Yiddish change will actually affect course offerings.

As is always the case, there is more to the story, which leaves a more mixed picture. The savings from reduction in Yiddish offerings seem to come chiefly from elimination of an instructor position. The Jewish Studies operation incurs some small administrative overhead but much of that is covered by outside donations, and most of its faculty have their lines in other home departments (such as History.) They are unaffected. The cut you see reflects the natural place to which an administrator must turn in tight times: course offerings enabled by only one instructor, who is non-tenure track, and taken by (according to Testudo today) perhaps six students.

The reporting you have not seen yet: Far more sweeping reorganization of the languages departments within ARHU is under way, which will likely trigger release of more office staff as savings is sought from doubling up on responsibilities. The intellectual strength of programs for which we have far more majors is at stake – but while these people have a story to tell too, apparently they don’t live close enough to hot buttons to get their stories in the Post or Sun yet. (And there are far more reorgs yet to roll out too.)

Other reporting you have not yet seen: Unlike in the diversity matter where activists openly questioned leadership’s motives, so far nobody has questioned hard why the Iranian born Provost would quietly gut a core cultural component from the Jewish Studies operation. Yes – a study in contrasts.

Given the poor weather, canceling December commencement was the only call, and a pity at that. We know there are only three things a successful university must provide: graduations for the parents, winning football for the alumni and parking for the faculty. At this point UM is teetering on one for three.

Holding a replacement event in January, though – this is fraught with danger. The pressure to do something is surely immense, but it has the feel of being a lot of expense that will likely bring low attendance anyway (making it more a downer than festive event) and risks another weather snafu anyway.

This is one of those times that it sure is easier to write a blog than navigate the campus over uncharted ground.

Leadership made the right call on cancellation of Saturday events – both exams and the evening commencement event. We can think of times not in the distant past when the place shut down only to have the locals complain “huh?” as the dire weather conditions never materialized.

A little communication would go a long way though. It’s presently 11:30PM, well after the late news reports closings, and nothing yet on WTOP (or similar DC area outlets) or WBAL (Baltimore area outlets). The Sun reports we’ll know about Sunday college-specific events as of an announcement at 8AM Sunday yet – it was this afternoon when the Provost sent email to the campus announcing everyone gets an invite to May proceedings instead. The place is unequivocally closed for Sunday.Yeah, locals are supposed to only check in to campus, but come on – parents and students, who may not have had instruction of the rules, are involved.

Can’t we at least be transparent about basics like this?

For those of you not on the campus mailer, the latest from leadership to help us feel good about ourselves. (In fairness, there probably isn’t much left for them to do…)

December 16, 2009

Dear University of Maryland Family:

As we wind down the fall term and prepare for a well-earned holiday
respite, I thought it timely to bring you up to date on our budgetary
challenges and what we might expect during the first part of the new year.

Understandably, essentially all faculty and staff are troubled by
furloughs, growing workloads and reduced departmental budgets. Actually,
we all are. Students are anxious about class availability and cuts in
services; parents are worried about the cost and quality of their
children’s education. Major reductions in the University’s state budget
have had painful consequences for our campus, and I regret deeply the
toll they are taking on you and your families. The stress that surrounds
budget-related decisions and uncertainties is significant. And a broader
campus participation in budget processes can improve understanding of
our circumstances and decisions. A call for transparency and clarity
about the budget has been heard.

On November 18th we received our most recent budget reduction, a $9
million cut in the FY10 budget. Rather than initiating another round of
unit reductions, central funds, obtained from fuel/utility savings and
tuition generated by higher than expected enrollments, were used to
cover this reduction. No jobs were lost. However, this $9 million loss
of one-time funds has consequences for “what we won’t do” rather than
“what we must stop doing.” The loss renders us less able to hire
temporary faculty, students and staff, provide additional financial aid,
add additional course sections, renovate aging facilities and fund
one-time projects. This was the fifth budget cut delivered to the campus
since July 1. The total of these cuts, summing all one-time cuts,
furlough savings and base reductions, now exceeds $48 million since July
1. And that is in addition to the $26.5 million in total reductions in
the previous year.

The State’s economic downturn is expected to persist through FY11 (July
1, 2010 through June 30, 2011). The State will report its budgetary
expectation in the Governor’s FY11 budget which will be presented to the
Legislature at the end of December or in early January. All predictions
call for an overall State budget reduction from the current FY10 budget
of between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. We cannot reliably predict our
campus’s share of the State’s reduction, but we expect additional,
difficult budget reduction decisions. We are committed to making this
process as transparent as possible and using our strategic priorities to
guide us. All of us do have a role in this process. Campus leaders —
from the president to the directors and unit heads — must engage with
faculty, staff and students to ensure the opportunity for all voices to
be heard, just as we did in the strategic planning process. Open
communication and transparency in priority setting are essential for the
campus.

My leadership team will be taking the following steps to increase your
access to budgetary information and to enhance understanding of
budget-related issues:

Budget Planning. I have asked vice presidents for FY11 budget plans by
divisional areas: Academic Affairs, Administrative Affairs, Student
Affairs, Research, University Relations and Information Technology.
Because our budget target is as yet unknown, their plans will consider a
range of percentage budget reductions (e.g., 2%, 4% …) that reflect
their divisional priorities, and they will also present ideas for
revenue enhancements. Each vice president will inform and engage with
his/her division for budget planning and for garnering input to
budgetary recommendations. For example, in Academic Affairs, deans,
department chairs and directors will be asked by the provost to work
with their units to obtain input on incremental budget reduction plans.

Budget Central Website. The Budget Central website is being redesigned
for more robust communication about budgetary planning and decisions.
This user-friendly site will provide timely information including: a
synopsis of the University budget, current budgetary challenges,
flowcharts on budgetary decision making and recent budgetary decisions.
The website will encourage engagement and expand our current web feature
on budget solutions, showcasing individuals and groups who have
implemented successful budgetary strategies.

Town Hall Meetings. The vice presidents and I will hold town hall
meetings, similar to the one hosted by the President’s Office and
University Senate Executive Committee in the fall, to update you on
budget information, answer questions on the budgetary issues and seek
your advice and counsel. Vice presidents will also hold open meetings
with constituents of their divisions, as appropriate.

Virtual Fireside Chat. We will pilot a virtual fireside chat, suggested
by students at one of my student lunches, where community members can
send in questions to me and share their budget ideas and priorities at
president@umd.edu. I will respond to as many as possible in a website
video beginning with the new semester and continuing as long as it is
useful.

Senate Executive Committee and Shared Governance Groups. I will continue
to involve the Senate Executive Committee in the budget discussions and
seek its advice on critical issues. Each vice president has an advisory
group for similar exploration and counsel on budgetary and strategic
issues. For example, the Academic Planning Advisory Committee (APAC)
will seek additional input from students and staff to ensure their
constructive ideas and concerns are taken into consideration before any
major programmatic changes are recommended.

All-Campus Emails. I will continue to send community emails from time to
time that alert you to important information about our budgetary
circumstances.

I am heartened by our community’s extraordinary resolve to persevere in
keeping the university strong. With guidance from our Strategic Plan, we
have maintained the core academic enterprise and access to it for our
students. Our faculty has raised record research funds, and we have
generated new revenue through entrepreneurial programs, raised more than
$350,000 of emergency financial aid for needy students and helped
Maryland businesses prosper. And we have minimized layoffs by
reassigning staff to jobs vacated through attrition.

I will be in contact again when we have budget news from the State. I
pledge to do all that I can to create the climate of trust,
communication and transparency that is needed for us to go forward
together. We will emerge from this economic downturn as a strong, united
and nimble university prepared to capitalize on the new opportunities
that await us. I thank you for all you do to maintain the momentum of
this great university. And finally, I offer you and your family my best
wishes for the holiday season and the New Year, which I predict will be
better than this one has been.

Yours sincerely,

C. D. Mote, Jr.
President

When the ostensibly bottom-up (faculty driven) merger of the College of Chemical and Life Sciences with the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences was broached a month ago (which is to say, the Provost and Deans started the top-down process of building consensus) it was expected that an announcement of the decision would roll out at the beginning of December.

Well?

Nothing from campus yet. The Diamondback has covered it and leadership in the respective colleges is known to have huddled in conference, trying to figure out (at behest of deans) how best to paint the picture of comity and support, which puts the best face on what may be coming anyway.

Silence is odd, and especially so from the students. How do they gain from the merger of these two colleges?

Undergraduates in CLFS may not have much to gain. True, a faculty-student ratio would seem to favor the other college (with more faculty and fewer students) but CMPS provides no college services for its majors. Nobody is talking implementation plans yet (probably they aren’t so that nobody will feel the burn and rise in opposition) but he known-high quality of advising and support provided in CLFS would likely become diluted once half again as many majors are spread across the same (or less) staff. (Less? This is at least a cost cutting measure after all.)

CMPS undergraduates don’t get much out of this either, at least not the best ones. Maybe average students will benefit from having access to the old CLFS advising team (presuming it is preserved in the union) but top students will see the research dollars, that support lab and scientific opportunies which get them access to top grad schools, spread over a bigger base. (As has been observed, the CMPS Physics department has a bigger budget than the whole of CLFS.)

Majors on south campus won’t get much out of this either. Using the official figures from IRPA, BSOS (College of Behavioral and Social Sciences) will remain king of the undergraduate hill (jam packed with 5500 majors) but a combined science college will then be the close second. If STARE (Students Taking Action to Reclaim Our Education) doesn’t like how BSOS plays second fiddle in the funding scheme, imagine what they get when they are close to playing second fiddle behind a newly minted all-science college, that leadership will look to for more national rankings and achievements – all of which take cash and expansion that could have gone to reducing the wait lists in BSOS courses to something manageable.

No administration can be faulted for dreaming big, but they can be criticized for losing sight of the art of the possible. Gen Ed refactoring, strategic plan reviews and now the merger are all examples of aggressive obligations to which we are driven by the Provost, but which because of haste and absence of serious thought (one of the few things a campus like ours can do well) remain muddled and on hold.