THE VOICE OF WILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Volume 8, No. 4
WII.KKSBORO, NORTH CAROI.I.NA
FEBRUARY 7, 1978
Financial
WCC Faces Crunch
BY MARY R. SHEW
Wilkes Community College was
the hardest hit of the 57
community colleges the State
Board of Education allots funds
to when it was asked to return
$220,000. The amount demanded
was almost a third of the total
$737,000 the college was alloted
on the basis of projected
enrollment. Although student
enrollment was down only
slightly, from 2541 to 2187, the
State Board rejected Dr. David
Daniel’s plea to cut the reversion
to half. Dr. Daniel explained to
the review board that half the
fiscal year was gone and we were
already two months into the fall
quarter when the demand came
and that the money had been
spent for supplies and to hire
additional part-time instructors
for the evening classes.
The plea had no effect on the
unyielding state review board
members, forcing WCC to
institute stringent economic mea
sures in order to return the
$220,000. For the remaining six
months of this fiscal year, no
supplies or materials will be
purchased, all orders for equip
ment have canceled, and no
school related travel expenses will
be reimbursed. Dr. Daniel was
also forced to cancel his planned
trip to the annual meeting of the
Southren Associaton of Colleges
and Schools.
In 1976, 159 of the 450
curricula courses offered were
taught by part-time instructors,
but by the 12th of December, only
29 courses were being taught by
them. Part-time instructors have
been reduced by 80% and will be
reduced by lOCVo by the spring
term. This forces the regular
full-time instructors to bear the
extra burden. It will raise their
weekly class contact hours from
18 to 22-24.
An Interview With The President
Note: Mary R. Shew, Cougar Cry
reporter, conducted the following
interview with Dr. David Daniel,
President of Wilkes Community
College, concerning the reversion
of college funds to the State and
the possible effects this action
may have on the quality of
education here at WCC.
Cougar Cry: Why did the state
institute this new policy when it
apparently causes such dis
ruption?
Dr. Daniel: The legislature
mandated reversion of state
monies when institutions suffered
a decline in enrollment, within
certain limits. In our case, we lost
a large number of veterans from
our student population from the
spring quarter of 1977 to the fall
quarter, then we lost an additional
number from the fall quarter to
the winter quarter of this
academic year, and because of
those losses, the formula that was
mandated by the state board of
education, dictated that we should
return $223,000 to the state
coffers for redistribution to
institutions that had an appreci
able increase in student enroll
ment, so it is a method by the
legislature to redistribute money
according to enrollment. The
difficulty that it presents, how
ever, is that it takes money out of
the current year that you’ve
already planned for and already
hired personnel for, and bought
supplies for, and all the rest of it.
If there would be some way for
these adjustments to be made the
subsequent year, then the plann
ing would be much better and it
would avoid this kind of turmoil
in the midst of a year.
Cougar Cry: Why was WCC so
much harder hit than other
community colleges?
Dr. Daniel: Many of our
community colleges, a year ago,
had a decline in veteran
enrollment. We had our peak
enrollment of veterans a year later
than most other institutions.
However, last year there was no
mandated reversion, so these
institutions were able to get
through without having a man
date to revert funds. Our getting
into the veteran business a year
late meant that our big decline of
veteran business a year late meant
that our big decline of veteran
enrollemtn would be a year late,
and it so happened that this year
was the year of a mandated
reversion, so we were hit. This
institution, Gaston College and
Cleveland Technical Institute
were among those hardest hit.
Cougar Cry: Will the new plan
of proposed distribution help
enough colleges to a sufficient
degree to offset the distress it has
caused others?
Dr. Daniel: 1 don’t think so.
The mandated reversion did not
take effect until mid-year, and the
redistribution of funds would
necessarily, because of the paper
work and red tape, take place
later than that, so institutions that
will be getting additional funds
will be getting them so late in the
year that they cannot wisely spend
that money, so that’s another
reason for really trying to
eliminate this current reversion
policy.
Cougar Cry: Is there any
possible chance the state will
rescind this new ruling since it has
apparently affected so many
schools adversly?
Dr. Daniel: I think without
question that there will be a
modification in the recall pro
vision. There are committees at
work right now. As a matter of
fact. Dr. Shaw, who’s a member
of the advisory board for the
community college system has just
returned from a meeting in
Raleigh yesterday, where this was
the topic of conversation and
where the recommendation was
made that the recall provision be
erased from the legislation.
Cougar Cry: Is there no where
the college can get the money it
needs to operate normally? No
emergency grants? No loans?
Dr. Daniel: 85% to 90*% of our
operating funds come from the
state. Local monies are used for
upkeep to pay utilities. There are
no other sources of funds to take
care of this kind of emergency.
It’s something that totally has to
be absorbed within the institution.
Some institutions that have
healthy local budgets, and are not
restricted to the payments of
utilities and upkeep only, are able
to expend some local money to
take care of this kind of
emergency, but that is not the case
here at Wilkes.
Cougar Cry: Will the part-time
instructors be reinstated, and
when?
Dr. Daniel: Well, of course, we
have operated a number of years
with a large cadre of part-time
personnel. During winter quarter
of last year, for instance, we
employed eighty-some part-time
teachers to teach a hundred and
fifty-nine classes. Now, we have
absorbed most of that with our
full-time people. However, you
must realize that we had an
appreciable drop in enrollment so
that the full-time faculty weren’t
overloaded to an inordinate
degree, though they have accepted
many more responsibilities, more
students, and more classes, but
this is absolutely necessary in
order to meet our budget this
year, but, at such time as the state
money is available, then we will
hire part-time people accordingly.
If it isn’t available, of course, we
cannot.
Cougar Cry: Will cutting out of
part-time instructors limit course
offerings?
Dr. Daniel: We’ve been very
fortunate, Tom Whittington, our
dean of instruction, has done an
excellent job in consolidation, and
crossing divisional lines, even, to
make sure that faculty have full
loads. In a few cases, we
eliminated a section or two,
however, that course offering is
still in the schedule and is
available to the students, so that
while there may not be quite as
many choices, that particular
subject is still available.
Cougar Cry: Will the budget
refund of the money affect the
special interest courses, such as
cake decorating, cabinet making,
etc., offered by the continuing
education division?
Dr. Daniel: Continuing educ
ation education was not part of
this recall. The recall that hit us
hard was the curriculum or credit
courses only. Our extension
budget is intact and has not been
cut and will not be cut this year
because the enrollment has kept
pace.
Cougar Cry: Will it be
necessary to dismiss full-time
instructors to live within our new
budget?
Dr. Daniel: This is a matter that
is still under careful scrutiny. At
this particular point in time, 1 do
not think that we’ll have to
dismiss any of the full-time
faculty.
Cougar Cry: If this does occur,
in which programs are such cuts
likely to be made?
Dr. Daniel: Well, this is
unanswerable at this time. One of
the things that we must do day to
day is to evaluate our programs,
the total numbers of students, the
service that is being provided, the
needs that are being met.
Sometimes programs run their
course when the needs have been
met, and student enrollment
drops of dramatically. Sometimes
certain programs have to be
dropped, but at this particular
stage of this academic year, we are
not in a position to make a final
evaluation at this time.
Cougar Cry: Will the extra
workload the instructors must
bear have a detrimental effect on
the quality of education at WCC?
Dr. Daniel: Absolutely not.
One of the things that we can be
justly proud of is having an
excellent faculty. Our faculty is
well prepared. On paper, they
have the credentials. Personally
and professionally, they have all
the attributes that make for
successful teaching, and I’m just
extremely proud of each and every
one of our faculty. They have
gratiously accepted increased
responsibilities. They are dedi
cated to what they’re doing, and
though they are spending ad
ditional hours in study and
preparation and in class contact,
there is no depreciation of the
quality of instruction going on
here.
Cougar Cry: If the college sees
it can operate without the
part-time instructors, will it
continue to use the full-time
instructors for the extra classes?
Dr. Daniel: Well, we will hire
part-time personnel when we see
that there is a need that cannot be
met by our full time faculty, that’s
the rule of thumb. Our full time
faculty, of course, should be
working full time. There are cases
where they’re going the extra
mile, and when the state money is
available, we will hire part-time
personnel to take that additional
load from them.
Cougar Cry: Will it raise their
pay accordingly?
Dr. Daniel: Well, interestingly,
perhaps, the salaries, the faculty
salaries at Wilkes Community
College are on top in comparison
with the other fifty-six institutions
in the community college system.
We rank number one in payment
of faculty salaries, and we want to
continue that record.
Cougar Cry: Does this shortage
affect the new buildings?
Dr. Daniel: No, it does not
affect the new buildings. We look
forward to occupying the tech
nical building in the spring and
having commensurate improve
ments in our program because of
additional space, and modern and
functional space. But, at this
point, I see no way the decrease in
the curriculum operational alloc
ations will affect space.
Cougar Cry: Will WCC be back
to normal in every respect by the
fall term of 1978, or even by the
summer term?
Dr. Daniel: Well, we can’t
second guess anybody. We don’t
know what the new budget will
be, but, one thing is for sure, on
July 1, we’ll have a new budget,
and 1 am very optimistic that the
new budget will be a fair one.
We’ll have some revisions in it
that will be easier for us to live
with. 1 anticipate that we’ll have
moderate increases in our enroll
ment in the spring quarter and fall
quarter of 1978, so an educated
[Continued on page 6.]
Ministers To Be
On Campus
WCC is beginning a unique
program of cooperation with
several ministers from the Wilkes
Ministerial Association. Pete
Mann, WCC English instructor,
Tom Renniger, Frank McKenzie,
Hugh Hoyle, and Dr. John
Wayland are working at regularly
scheduled times to talk with
students.
The ministers simply want to
make themselves available to talk
with students on an informal basis
in the Commons. They are willing
to discuss any questions or
concerns students may have on
any subject.
The ministers have arranged a
regular schedule for their time on
campus. Their hours will be the
same for all days listed: 9:30 a.m.
to 11:00 a.m. The schedule for
February and March is as follows.
FEBRUARY
7 Tom Renniger
10 Frank McKenzie
14 Jim Barksdale
17 Hugh Hoyle
21 Frank McKenzie
24 Tom Renniger
28 Hugh Hoyle
MARCH
3 Jim Barksdale
7 Tom Renniger
10 Frank McKenzie
14 Jim Barksdale
17 Hugh Hoyle
21 Frank McKenzie
24 Tom Renniger
28 Hugh Hoyle
31 Jim Barksdale