6
THE GUILFORD IAN
Senator's
Notebook
James Green
Nov. 13 was the date. Senate was about
to begin, and I was looking for a chair. As
luck would have it, I spotted an open
position next to Guy Vitaglione—the
man, the myth, the legend and Guilford's
own Senate president.
The meeting moved swiftly through
each executive officer's reports. Guy re
ported that Ciba-Geigy, a large local
chemical company, has joined Guilford
in supporting the Bell-Glazner Alterna
tive for the site of Painter Boulevard's
construction. This was welcome news.
We then moved to committee reports
where Lew Riley announced that he is
seeking help for the Academic Affairs
Committee meetings, which are held
Thursdays at 9 p.m. in Dana 3. Maybe
they could discuss the great shaft of 1991
(AKA registration), where it is pointless
to declare a major or even pick classes
that you want to take becasue they're all
going to be closed anyway.
Talk of cocrccd kissing and sexual
misconduct then broke out in Borcn
Lounge, and we began discussing the
sexual harrassment policy. We will con
tinue to do so next week. Please see your
senator, who has a copy of this policy.
Give us your input, because the finished
version will appear in the student hand
book and directly affect you.
Then we finally got to the good stuff—
the keg policy. We will discuss this more
next week, but we did get some discus
sion in this past Wednesday. Last week I
said that this keg policy thing won't
affect students, because they don't pay
much attention to the incredible number
of rules and regulations that Residential
Life wants to impose. I still think that this
is true.
I also pointed out that Residential Life
needs to spend their time and our money
doing something else. I think there are
plenty of other problems that need atten
tion, and I don't see why keg beer
shouldn't be treated like other beer. If
youareunder2l and get caught drinking,
you should be written up. What's the
difference between a keg and lots of
cans? I could go on forever, but I won't.
See your senator about this issue, too,
because whatever is decided will be
come part of the handbook along with the
sexual harrassment clauses.
I want to encourage everyone to attend
Senate meetings, because—as I always
say—they are tons of fun, they are im
portant, and because you can usually
hear Richard Ford speak, and that alone
should be encouragement enough. Join
us at 2:30 on Wednesdays in Boren
Lounge.
Budget woes require stipend cuts
Skip Davenport
Staff Writer
Because of over-spending last year and
plummeting interest rates, the Senate is be
ing forced to cut back the amount of money
paid in stipends to balance the budget.
The money for stipends is interest the
general fund has made over the summer.
The general fund is money leftover from the
Senate's previous year. Because less money
was put into the fund last year, the amount
of interest earned has shrunk.
The problem has centered around how
to cut back on the amount of money spent on
stipends. Student leaders have come to ex
pect a certain amount of money and the
Senate has promised the money.
"One option," said Senate Treasurer
Susannah Street, "is to use the Student Ac
tivities fee which hasn't been allocated."
Largely this will be an issue for the
Senate 1992-93 but options are being put
forth now. This issue will be bigger next
year because they will not have a residual
fund and will not have the option of using
other funds.
Three years ago the Senate was spend
ing SSOOO per year. Last year the sum rose
Budget
>■ continued from page 1
providing students," said Rogers. "We were
spending 1.5 million in financial aid in
1989-90, and now we are spending close to
3 million in financial aid for this year. Fi
nancial aid has expanded most rapidly."
Rogers also stated that Guilford will have
to choose whether it can continue to spend
the same amount on financial aid in its
attempts to continually improve the aca
demic quality and racial diversity of stu
dents.
Anthony Gurley, director of student fi
nancial assistance and planning, echoed
similar concerns about financial aid at the
meeting. Gurley stated that he believed
Guilford was "grossly underfunded" rela
tive to various other schools in its ability to
provide such large amounts of financial aid
for its students.
In addition to discussing the looming
1992-93 budget, the administration also re
leased a proposal detailing how the college
can account for its current budget deficit of
$402,617 reflected in the 1991-92 budget.
The current deficit of $402,617 marks the
third straight year that Guilford has been
forced to balance expected revenues with
expected expenditures by employing bud
get cuts in various areas of the college.
Last year Guilford was forced to cut $2
million of requested expenditures in order
to balance the budget with anticipated rev
enues. Included in last year's cut was the
reduction or elimination of 29 administra
tive and support staff positions. It was ac-
News
to between $ 12,000 and $ 15,000. Currently,
the Senate is spending SIO,OOO per year and
would like to return to the SSOOO total spent
might ask
student leaders to give up
grants voluntarily."
■■■ ;} ■ * Street
Senate Treasurer
three years ago.
Stipends are a way to reward student
leaders for their taking responsibility in col
lege organizations. Senate President Guy
Vitaglione emphasized that stipends are "not
a payroll, they are just a token of apprecia
tion.
Senate members have been trying to
find other ways of rewarding student lead
ers; a proposal to combine some other type
of incentive and monetary incentives seem
companied by a 9.5 percent increase in tu
ition and room and board expenses.
According to information submitted by
Poteet, the current proposals for balancing
the 1991-92 budget include deferring repay
ment of residence hall renovations, the din
ing hall addition, the purchasing of equip
ment and housekeeping supplies and the
repayment of the field house expansion and
computer purchases.
It was also suggested that a five percent cut
in the "discretionary" operating budget of
the college be implemented, producing a
savings of sllO thousand, according to in
formation provided at the meeting.
Cuts in the "discretionary" operating bud
get would include all unspent money de
voted toward meeting all the basic costs
required to operate the college, but would
not include a variety of costs such as basic
telephone expenses, salaries and fringes, stu
dent aid, academic departmental operating
budgets and other established costs.
Following the presentation by Poteet,
Williams, a faculty member who serves on
the college's Budget and Planning Commit
tee, spoke on what he saw as some of the
underlying causes of the college's budget
problems.
Williams stated that he agreed with Poteet
that the 1992-93 Guilford budget outlook
appeared "bleak" and that he essentially
agreed with the currently projected $2 mil
lion plus budget shortfall for next year.
He pointed to a variety of causes which
have created budget problems. These in
cluded Guilford's increase in buildings and
renovations such as the new apartments,
loop road and Bauman Telecommunications
Center, the college's increase in personnel,
the most plausible.
The nature of stipends has been to com
pensate a student for time that could be spent
working at another
semester
Because so much money wasbeingspent
last year, the IRS became interested. Ac
cordingly the "new" Senate has changed the
name of stipends to honorariums and pays
taxes on the money for the first time in the
history of the program.
Several proposals have been put forth to
curb stipend spending. Street said, "The
Senate might ask student leaders to give up
grants voluntarily."
including a substantial increase in Guilford's
administrative and support staff; and a sig
nificant increase in the college's insurance
needs and subsequent costs.
Williams also stated that in considering
ways to address the projected shortfall for
next year, the college can ill-afford saving
money by reducing faculty salaries and
fringes as it would further reduce morale and
create the potential loss of Guilford's most
marketable faculty members.
Said Williams, "I do not support the idea
of paying for these new buildings by taking
it out of salaries and fringes. Ifwe do this, we
are risking losing Guilford's blue chips."
Williams also said that if Guilford is going
to effectively balance expected revenues with
expected expenditures in the future, it will
have to make some hard choices, including
the likelihood of eliminating administrative
and staff personnel and possibly even some
faculty positions.
"Staff reduction is a must if we want to
continue to maintain quality," said Williams.
"This year we essentially are using our re
serves—the liquid part of our endowment—
to balance the budget. But, eventually, staff
reductions are going to be necessary and this
may even include some faculty positions.
We just can't keep expanding."
Williams also reported that analysis of
past institutional audits from 1985 to 1991
indicated that expenditure increases were
occurring in a variety of administrative ar
eas, in addition to areas such as financial aid,
admissions and public relations. He indi
cated that areas involving expenditures for
faculty instruction have consistently been
going down relative to other expenditures
within the institution.
November 15, 1991
job. The amount of
money received
varies and is based
on the amount of
time put into the or
ganization.
The Senate has
the responsibility of
estimating the
amount of time each
position requires
and reexamines
these figures at the
beginning of each