[CAUT] bursting at the seams

[Fred Sturm]

On Aug 19, 2010, at 9:16 PM, Israel Stein wrote:

> First we followed the same "do more with less" as you are now  
> attempting to do


	Interestingly, I am lucky enough to be in a position to do more with  
more, because I am (ie piano service is) entirely supported by course  
fees, which rise as enrollment rises. The faculty may face some form  
of furlough (perhaps a pay cut balanced by some number of non-work  
days - applied students would likely get one or two fewer lessons,  
classes would meet one or two fewer days, that sort of thing). Part  
time adjunct faculty will likely be reduced if not eliminated. But I  
would probably not be affected. I have the same budget I have had for  
the past eight years or so, based on $5 per music department credit  
hour. It is dedicated to its purpose by "fiat from on high" (the  
department lobbied to get the fee to meet a need, and it was granted  
with strings firmly attached) and subject to audit from time to time  
to be sure the conditions are met. (Not that decisions from on high  
might not change, but it is relatively secure, and my chair is very  
protective of it).
	Which is a good thing, because we just expanded into some rooms  
vacated by theater and cinema (they took over a building that once  
housed Architecture, which got a new building three or four years  
back), and I need to come up with six new pianos for additional  
faculty studios. For the moment, the practice rooms are feeling that  
pinch. Well, actually there are more practice rooms available for the  
students, as a few are being vacated by faculty who had been given  
them as "studios" for lack of anywhere else. But quite a few now lack  
pianos, as they were moved to the new studios. So I will be purchasing  
pianos, and will continue to buy parts and pay for contract tuning,  
etc. as usual. It is a strange situation, more or less "plenty in the  
midst of famine," but I'm not complaining. It is clear just how good  
an idea that was to institute that course fee. I am considering the  
possibility of increasing my FTE a bit - which I think my chair would  
be happy to do, since my salary also comes from the course fee. It  
would simply be a matter of shifting the priority from replacement to  
maintenance, which is something we have discussed doing for some time  
(we needed to do a good bit of purchasing at the beginning, partly to  
retire the loan program, partly to replace the dogs in the inventory).  
At this point, the inventory is at a fairly good level, and just needs  
to be kept steady.
	
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to  
shape it.” Brecht