By A proposed $16 million budget reduction for Cal State Long Beach’s 2008-09 academic year may have a major impact on its colleges, staff and faculty.
But while next year’s budget has not been finalized, CSULB college deans have set out preparatory plans for a possible reduction in funding. Most are expecting at least a 40 percent reduction in summer budgets, resulting in a reduction in course selection and an increase of class sizes.
The College of Liberal Arts
The largest college on campus, the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), encompasses 22 departments, seven degree programs and shelters 8,057 students. The college will have some arduous decisions to face regarding the budget cutbacks.
“This situation is riddled with difficulties,” said CLA Dean Gerry Riposa. “First of all, we do not have a rock-solid estimate on the budget cut.”
According to Riposa, the latest cuts estimate is at $14.5 billion statewide, with a $380 million share going to the CSU system.
“We have been told that if students’ fees were implemented by 10 percent, the deficit would be $312 million to the CSU system.”
Other lines of revenue, such as the president’s discretionary funds and Academic Affairs funds, will also be used to combat the impact of the deficit. Riposa said this will reduce the deficit to $5 million to $7 million.
“One of the problems with that scenario is that we’re not sure it’s $14 [billion] to $15 billion deficit. It could be more,” said Riposa. “We’re acting on a migrating moving target. It’s very frustrating.”
Although the budget cuts have not been finalized, the college felt it necessary to make a 40 percent cut to its summer budget in order to concentrate its efforts on the busier fall and spring semesters.
“It wasn’t pleasant, but we felt as if we needed to do that to heed off some of the cuts to come,” Riposa said.
Additionally, CLA cancelled 12 searches for professors and one search for an associate dean. At this point, Riposa said the college simply cannot incur any further costs.
“Steps will be taken on an ongoing basis,” Riposa said. “We’ll keep information transparent, even if it’s painful.”
The College of Engineering
According to Forouzan Golshani, dean of the College of Engineering, the college is “well-prepared for absorbing the cost cuts in the best possible way with no downside to students.”
The college currently serves 2,924 students.
According to Golshani, engineering students will continue to progress toward graduation without any interference from budget cuts. The college plans on cutting its costs by consolidating classes wherever possible, which will mean larger class sizes with less section availability.
It’s “tricky optimization,” Golshani said. “We think we can manage things without reducing choices.”
College staff will also feel the impact of budget cuts. Professors will have to put outside projects on hold in order to be pulled back into the classroom.
“They know what is happening, and I haven’t heard anything. Obviously it’s difficult,” Golshani said in regard the effects of the cutbacks on faculty.
The college is hoping to get some alleviation from the budget cuts through outside funding. The college receives between $3 million to $4 million in outside funding for research projects annually.
“It helps. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s some, and it certainly helps,” Golshani said.
The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with 2,813 students, will also have to make some adjustments to its summer and fall budgets. The summer budget will have to be adjusted by 40 to 50 percent, and course sections will have to be consolidated into larger classes.
“We tried when possible not to cut the number of seats,” said Laura Kingsford, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics dean.
In spite of the cuts, Kingsford said she is optimistic as to the consequences of having larger class sizes.
“We want to protect instruction. We want to make sure students get classes.” Kingsford said, adding that course offerings will still be available, just with fewer sections offered.
The college will also try to maximize its resources by having tenured professors pick up more sections.
It will also hire fewer lecturers, and use student teacher assistants whenever possible.
“I think the faculty handled it pretty well,” Kingsford said. “Unfortunately, when you have a budget cut there is no way you can protect everything and everybody. There’s an outstanding faculty in this college. I have a lot of trust they’re going to do their best to maintain the line.”
The College of the Arts
The College of the Arts, which consists of 3,787 students, will likewise face its own difficulties with the decreased proposed budget.
“People will be impacted,” said Donald Para, dean of the College of the Arts. According to Para, there won’t be any layoffs, but there will be cutbacks.
The college’s summer budget has been cut by 40 percent, and most affected by this cut will be the its largest department, art.
Theater classes will not be offered at all during summer. Music will be limited to one class and design to one or two classes.
The college’s fall semester will also be greatly affected. It will no longer be able to hire student assistants for instructional support, and some elective courses will need to be cut or suspended. In addition, several theater art, dance, art history and film classes will also be suspended from the fall catalogue.
According to Para, the college wants to “protect majors, but also has an obligation to the university to offer certain courses [to the general body population]. The university is determined to protect instruction next year; after that, who knows.”
The college will also cut back on the number of exhibits, concerts and performances it presents each year.
“We’ll still do the stuff, but not at the same level,” Para said. “I hear a lot of questions from students. I tell them, ‘This is what I can tell you based on what I know. We hope it turns out better.'”
The College of Business Administration
The College of Business Administration (CBA), which serves 4,851 students, appeared to be the most optimistic regarding the pending budget cuts.
“I don’t think the impact is going to be that severe,” said Interim Dean M.B. Khan. “In some cases we might increase the class size a little bit, but other than that I don’t think there’s going to be that much impact.”
Originally, CBA’s summer budget faced an expected cut of 50 percent. However, that projection was reduced to 40 percent due to $100,000 in allocated funds that were carried over from general funds.
“Without that I think we’d be in a pretty bad situation,” Khan said.
According to Khan, CBA was “very careful” in planning its schedule of classes. The college does not foresee any problems with course availability or interference toward graduation.
“We are trying to be more efficient,” said Khan. “We are trying to make sure that our students are not affected.”
College of Health and Human Services Dean Ronald Vogel declined to comment. Andy Franks also contributed to this report.
