Facts: The Strategic Planning Committee held the Chancellor’s Forum on Thursday to discuss the developments in the task forces’ plans. “The White Papers,” as the University refers to them, are posted on the Strategic Planning website.

Opinion: The Chancellor’s Forum’s purpose was muddled by the chancellor’s budget cut announcement meeting Jan. 18, and this made the forum less about the strategic plan and more about the effects of the budget cut on future plans. The provost and the chancellor should arrange another forum after the strategic plan draft is released or make the meeting date for the task forces more prominent on the Strategic Meeting website.

At the end of the Chancellor’s Forum Thursday, Christine Grant, a professor in the College of Engineering, made a comment about not knowing what the purpose of the forum was before coming. The purpose of the forum was posted online, on the campus calendar and even linked to the white papers from the strategic planning committees. This was a test of communication and understanding, and we all failed at the price of productivity.

The Chancellor’s Forum event is on many University webpages and on the campus calendar, however its original intent was overshadowed by the chancellor’s announcement Jan. 18. He had nothing more to add to his previous statements Thursday, so it was a slow transition for the question and answer session for the strategic plan, the original intent of the forum.

Although attendance was up for all facets of the University, it is hard to say if the forum was productive. Awareness isn’t bad, but at the forum, it impeded the full potential for productivity. There were questions and constructive comments and criticisms from the campus, but the entire event was overshadowed by the community’s heightened awareness of impending budget cuts. Most questions focused on programs’ and areas’ funding than the ideas and projects presented in the task force drafts.

The provost or the chancellor should push another forum of this kind after the preliminary presentation of the draft is release, or at least make the task force meeting dates and times easier to find. The task forces’ webpages list past meetings, but no future meeting times. These meetings are open and actively seeking input from the University and campus community, so it would be a travesty, especially after the budget cut announcement, to hinder students and faculty from attending and contributing before the next presentation.

At the end of this process, we are not expecting a new University, but a better idea of what we want out of our University in all areas. We want a realistic, viable and efficient University that provides educational opportunities and professional development for all. How the strategic planning committee does this depends on feedback from those of us who live it. The provost and the chancellor both believe this, so they should give us another chance or forum to be constructive towards this goal, besides a website comment box.