Tempers flared as nearly 60 faculty and non-faculty members gathered together on Thursday Nov. 9 to both criticize and question how Sacramento State found its way into a $6.5 million deficit.

A number of Faculty Senate members attended a budget presentation, put on by the administration on August 30, Faculty Senate Chair Michael Fitzgerald said in an e-mail. There was no mention of any suspected deficit on that day, he said.

Fitzgerald said faculty members weren’t informed of the deficit until 12 days later on Sept. 11. It was at that same meeting that the Budget Advisory Group ?” which consists of representatives from the university president’s cabinet, Associated Students Inc. and the Faculty Senate ?” was asked to recommend whether the school should scale back expenses in one, two or three years, Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald questioned the process of balancing the budget.

“Isn’t the university budget required to balance annually?” Fitzgerald asked. “If it is required to balance, how could the university have a $6 million-plus deficit? And, how, if that deficit exists, can the university be allowed to take three years to scale back its operations in order to put expenditures and revenues in balance?”

The Faculty Senate chair said faculty is disappointed because administration has not directly answered the questions that the senate has presented, Fitzgerald said.

President Alexander Gonzalez emphasized that the university’s budget is based on enrollment rates.

“The California State University system is predicated on growth,” Gonzalez said, adding that the university has not met its enrollment target since the 2002-03 academic year.

“We get funding from allocations given to us by the chancellor’s office and from students fees. With enrollment numbers going down we have lost money in both (allocations and fees),” Gonzalez said at the Thursday meeting.

While Sac State has $8.5 million in rollover money from previous years it can’t use it, because then it would become depleted, Gonzalez said.

The campus president added that administration made a conscious decision to close the structural gap over the course of three years opposed to paying the full $6.5 million this year, he said.

“Instead of paying $6.5 million this year we will pay $2.2 million this year, $2.2 million next year and 2.1 million the year after,” Gonzalez said.

While $2.2 million is substantially less that $6.5 million, faculty members still feel that it is no bargain.

“What I see from these numbers is misplaced priorities,” said Kevin Wehr, an assistant professor of sociology. “What is our real mission? I though it was education, but we don’t seem to be putting our money where our mouth is.”

“If faculty members are doing their jobs but funding is getting cut, then there is definitely misplaced priorities,” said Government Professor Jeff Lustig. “That’s not a question, it’s a fact,” he added.

Another aspect of the budget that frustrates faculty members is the possibility of classes being cut with more students being added to the remaining sections.

“My department was asked to cut 14 classes for spring and add more students to each class,” said Virginia Kidd, communication studies professor. “Sac State may still, as a university, get students through and get them degrees, but the degrees don’t mean what they used to.”

Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Joe Sheley explains, Sac State’s biggest problem is a drop in both enrollment numbers and full time students.

“When it came to enrollment the Universities of California went so far down into the CSU pool that our heads are still spinning, Sheley said.

That being said, Gonzalez and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Mike Lee are optimistic that the university will continue to run as normal and that things will, over the course of the year, get better.

“I’m optimistic that by the end of the year we can close our deficit even more,” Gonzalez said.

Academic affairs and the university is continuing to do what we have to do, Lee added.

While Gonzalez and Lee are willing to wait others want to take immediate action.

Everybody here knows that both faculty members and the school has suffered budget cuts for years, said Jim Chopyak, the immediate past president of Sac State Chapter of the California Faculty Association.

“The administration needs to go with faculty and staff members to the legislature and to the chancellor’s office to get more money,” Chopyak said. “We need money to survive.”

Faculty Senate is scheduled to hold a follow-up meeting tomorrow to discuss last week’s comments and reflect on the responses and actions of the administration.

Fitzgerald said the Senate is expected to consider asking Gonzalez to withdraw the $1.6 million in budget cuts he has planned for the next three years.

Ashley Evans can be reached at [email protected]