2 1 May 1,2015
The Guilfordian
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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/NEWS
Fernandes addresses budget
cuts and community concerns
BYTHORTOBIASSEN
Staff Writer
As the school year draws to a close.
President Jane Fernandes and the Guilford
College administration have begun to
provide details about their plan to balance
the budget. However, important questions
remain and when those will be answered is
uncertain.
Fernandes’ first year has been a roller
coaster as Guilford’s dire financial situation
unfolded. The school’s revenue is currently
$2 million short of its expenditures and
the deficit could balloon to $4 million
next year. Trustees and administrators have
repeatedly stated that all options are on
the table for dealing with the shortfall,
causing fears that programs such as the
Center for Continuing Education and the
Bonner Center will experience cuts.
On April 20, Fernandes delivered a
speech to a packed Founders Hall lounge
outlining her plan to balance the budget.
The major announcement was a long-
expected round of position cuts, totaling
40 staff and 17 faculty.
According to Fernandes, some of the
to-be-cut positions are already vacant, and
some are held by faculty and staff who are
considering resigning or retiring.
The other announcement was the delay
of the program review process. Fernandes
had given groups of faculty, staff and
consultants the task of analyzing Guilford’s
programs and departments, recommending
which ones to be downsized or eliminated.
She said that there had been insufficient
time for the committees to complete their
sizable task and that the process will be
pushed to next year.
Fernandes described her plan as a
framework for “right-sizing” the College to
focus on performing more appropriately
sized tasks exceptionally well.
“Service is the manifestation of
compassion, so the cultivation of
compassion is another distinguishing
characteristic of a Guilford education that
sets us apart,” said Fernandes in an email
interview.
Fernandes expects the budget to be
balanced by the end of the 2016 - 2017
school year. The administration will reveal
more specifics about the new budget plan
after the board of trustees meets in May.
Guilford’s budget shortfall stems from its
declining enrollment and failure to reduce
the size of faculty and staff as enrollment
fell. According to Dean of Admissions
and Financial Aid Andy Strickler, the
school’s enrollment has fallen from a high
point in 2010 - 2011 of 1,400 traditional
students and 1,300 CCE students to its
current level of 1,190 traditional students
and 820 CCE students. Faculty and staff
numbers, however, remained nearly the
same throughout this period.
CCE students in particular fear the
effects of the cuts on their programs. Some
night and weekend classes have already
been cut, and rumors of the CCE student
lounge’s relocation from Hendricks Hall
have swirled around campus.
Student Government Association
President and senior Monica Jones has
criticized administrative transparency
regarding CCE.
“We have not been updated on any
of the issues,” said Jones. “We are just
as lost as we were before the meetings ...
transparency does not exisf^ aiiy^ longer.
After the meeting on Monday, I also now
question the honesty and integrity after
hearing the president tell two different
groups (of people) different answers in
regard to the same topics.”
The recent revelation that former
president Kent Chabotar and other
administrators received large salary bonuses
in previous years increased the outrage.
“Personally, I think it is unlikely the
College will ask any employee to return
money paid out last year,” said Professor of
Geology and budget reconciliation group
ember Dave Dobson in an email interview.
“I am hopeful that the college will form a
community group to look at compensation
at Guilford with an eye toward stewardship
of our financial resources, equitable and
fair compensation for all employees and a
living wage for our lowest-paid members.
“That’s something we made good initial
progress on at the community forum on
April 8, and I’m hopeful that Jane and
the board will continue to support those
efforts.”
Incoming Community Senate President
and sophomore Molly Anne Marcotte says
that she has already been meeting with
administrators and faculty about how to
minimize the cuts’ impact on student life.
“I can only hope that the budget cuts
do not pull deeply away from the resources
we have on this campus for students of a
marginalized social identity,” said Marcotte
in an email interview.
“My hope in these meetings is to take
what I understand about the student
experiences, needs and concerns on
campus, learn about each administrator/
person of leverage’s position and roles on
campus, present those student concerns
and find the people with the correct roles
to address those concerns.
“As long as I hold this position, I intend
for no student voice to go unspoken and
no student concern to go unheard.”
With the year closing on a note of
continued uncertainty, Fernandes offered
thoughts on transparency in an email to
students.
“I am reminded of the idea that if you
like sausage, you probably won’t want to
watch it being made,” Fernandes wrote.
“Transparency means watching the sausage
being made ... so as we proceed with the
messy,' painful process of making the
sausage of budget balancing, let’s approach
it with a sense of trust in each other, whose
points of view inform and enlighten our
collective thinking.”
For an anxious student body, the waiting
game has begun again.
Faculty ami stoff nunibeis ramain
nearly the same
2010-2011 2014
>►
Peak enrollment
numbers:
1,400 traditional
and 1,300 CCE
students
2014-2015 APRIL 2015
> >■ >■ > >- >
Current
enrollment:
1,190
traditional and
820 CCE
students
END OF
2016-2017
ACADEMIC YEAR
► > > - > > > >
Projected
balanced
budget
Revealed $2
million deficit
Graphic by Karlen Lambert/guilfordian
President Fernandes
announces 40 staff
and 17 faculty
positions to be cut
TIMELINE OF THE BUDGET CRISIS
News in Brief
Community alert:
flasher on campus
On April 29 around 2:30 p.m., a
nnale exposed himself to o female
Guilford College student near New
Garden Hall. According to on email
from Vice President for Student
Affairs and Dean of Students Todd
Clark that evening, the man was
described as a white male with
white hair and wearing a black
t-shirt and dark ball cap, and was
driving a white four-door sedan with
a N.C. license plate that begins with
OBW. If anyone has information
about this situation or similar
occurrences, please call Public
Safety at 336-316-2909.
The Guilfordian wins
notional award
With a score of 900 out of 1,000
possible points. The Guilfordian
was one of six national college
newspapers to win first place in
the 2015 American Scholastic
Press Association's annual
newspaper contest, continuing a
winning streak that has spanned
several years. Last year, its 100th
birthday year, The Guilfordian
was named "Most Outstanding
College Newspaper of 2013-
2014" in the same competition.
Men's lacrosse makes
tournament
Guilford College's men's lacrosse
team posted their best record
since 1992 and the second best
overall record in school history
this past season. This earned
them a spot in the Old Dominion
Athletic Conference Tournament
as a six seed. The Quakers
traveled to Roanoke College,
but there they fell in their ODAC
tournament debut to three-seed
Roanoke College Maroons 13-
5. Regardless of this loss, their
accomplishments this season will
go down in program history.
Historic coupie to
graduate in May
When they walk across the stage
on May 16, David Frazier and
Larry Frazier-Arnold will make
history as the first married
same-sex couple to graduate
from Guilford. Frazier and Frazier-
Arnold have been together for
over 20 years. They were married
last May in Washington, D.C.
"We had no expectation that our
union would be codified in NC in
October," Frazier-Arnold wrote in
an email.
BY VALERIA SOSA
News Editor