We have all heard about budget cuts, the Realignment Plan and many rumors of courses being cut, but what is the University going to do about this $70 million problem? In order to triumph in this time of monetary crisis, the University has come up with multiple things to make up for the money loss.
I’m not going to lie, at one point I was scared my major, political science, would be cut; mainly because it is not something as popular as engineering or veterinary medicine. I know other students have felt my same fear. For example, some of the majors that are under “further evaluation” in the Realignment Plan are majors like poultry science, environmental science and environmental engineering technology. These are all majors I thought were fairly popular.
The University has been evaluating many classes throughout the colleges, trying to find the best way to cut costs while affecting the least number of students as possible. For instance, they want to cut all classes that have not been taught in five years. They also would like to cut classes numbered 100-299 with less than 15 people enrolled. However, even with this continual evaluation and class cutting, $70 million is a lot to make up for.
Cutting a couple classes from each college isn’t going to substitute that money. Rather than focusing on eliminating majors, organizations and other groups on campus should lower their budgets. An organization like Habitat for Humanity could cut the amount of money they use to transport students to the work site by having students carpool with one another. The little things can add up to big savings.
My fear is, what if they go to the lengths of taking out an entire college? With 30,000 undergraduate students and eleven colleges, the University is known for its size. Our University is the heart of Raleigh. Cutting a few courses here and there might eventually lead to cutting colleges that the University wouldn’t be the same without.
What if there is an even bigger budget cut next year, or the year after? Will we sacrifice what the University is known for and built on? While this team of evaluators is thinking about majors that have a slim number of students, we are walking through the brickyard listening to power tools drill away the University’s money under Harrelson Hall.
I think the Realignment Plan is inevitable. However, it is clear with this plan many will be disappointed. The University should notify the students whose majors will be cut as soon as possible. It states in the Realignment Plan that they will also be combing organizations and different groups on campus. These are small changes that will take time to make a difference, but at some point hopefully will.
In the upcoming year in order to combat the budget cuts, I suggest student organizations should take into consideration the amount of money they spend. Working as a whole with the student body will be the only thing we can do. We must support our fellow students, support the students whose majors were cut and hope this budget cut won’t continue to negatively affect the University.
