> Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:44:01 -0600 From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> > > 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. Fred, I hope your situation remains safe. But the "fee supported" model is not an absolute guarantee of anything. This is what we had here at SFSU for many years - dedicated student fees that went into a fund for instrument upkeep (pianos included). But when the big cuts hit, somebody discovered these dedicated funds and they were merged back into the general budget - and so we had to go begging for upkeep funding, even thought students were paying fees specifically for that purpose. Furthermore, the School of Music and Dance had always run a healthy surplus - because we had independent income from concert admissions and extensive donations from alumni and other supporters. The Director showed me the numbers last year - had we been allowed to keep this money, we would have been able to continue operating at the former level even with the cut in State funding. But the Dean of the College of Creative Arts decided to distribute all the surpluses among all the schools in the College (Theater Arts, Fine Arts, Broadcast and Electronic Communications, Industrial Design, etc.) some of which were running at huge deficits. My point is that no dedicated funding source - even that generated by the program itself - is safe in a time of continuing funding cuts. When things get bad enough, the "higher ups" start looking for money wherever they can find it, and using it according to their priorities. And we all know what position piano service and maintenance occupies on the list of higher-up University administrators' priorities... So I really hope, Fred, that things in New Mexico don't deteriorate much further. But then, from the 7 years I spent living there, I have the impression that New Mexico politicians are quite a bit more sensible than those elsewhere and are quite experienced at operating in tight economic circumstances (which has been the rule - rather than the exception - throughout the State's history)... Israel Stein > 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 > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100820/c9df8c0a/attachment.htm>
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