![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernjournal\/files\/2018\/05\/FINANCEDADSAVESTHEDAY-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sam Dunaway | News Editor<\/span><\/p>\n On May 8, a university budget update given by president Rex Fuller and interim Vice President for Finance and Administration Jay Kenton disclosed a new revelation to Faculty Senate: the university budget, which was previously thought to be in a deficit, is actually in a $4 million surplus.<\/span><\/p>\n This surplus of money arose from various sources. Though enrollment is still declining, the university is attracting more out-of-state students, who pay more for tuition than Oregon residents. This unexpected revenue cuts down the deficit. Additionally, the migration from the Banner software system to the cloud application saved the university a one-time savings of $450,000. And nearly half of the $4 million was money that was budgeted for various departments but not being utilized. Instead of re-allocating these funds halfway through the year, the administration decided to be proactive about their investments.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt allows us to be a bit more investment-oriented,\u201d explained Fuller. \u201cWe\u2019re moving to a point where we\u2019re creating our future as opposed to simply being in reaction mode.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Now the question is: what will the university invest in? Fuller thinks it\u2019s important to focus on increasing enrollment at Western.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be more creative and innovative about driving enrollment to Western,\u201d Fuller stated.<\/span><\/p>\n One way to accomplish this is to establish a campus in Salem to appeal to students that are currently commuting from Salem to Monmouth. Another focus would be creating new programs with an emphasis in professional STEM fields and implementing more accessible degree paths through online classes.<\/span><\/p>\n An important change, what Kenton refers to as a \u2018new paradigm,\u2019 is decentralizing the budget and allowing individual departments to manage their own budgets. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEverything was very centrally controlled here,\u201d Kenton commented. \u201cMost universities push responsibilities out \u2014 decisions are better made closer to their point of impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The way it is now, departments only manage nearly 20 percent of their own budgets. Kenton aims to change this.<\/span><\/p>\n He explained that faculty are stakeholders in the university, stating: \u201cYou (the faculty) are part owner of this operation and you deserve to have this information to know how your organization\u2019s doing and how you\u2019re going to be impacted by decisions we make. We need to be inclusive and transparent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Kimberly Jensen, professor of history, believes that the administration should provide more information to the faculty and explain why this surplus was not found sooner. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was money, over time, that could have supported faculty and the wonderful students we teach in many ways,\u201d Jensen explained. \u201cI would like to see the administration provide us more information about the specific accounting, and I would like the administration to see that there is restitution for what has happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Karen Haberman, professor of biology, suggested that these funds be used to provide competitive pay for open faculty positions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn light of budget surpluses going back many years, we need to prioritize filling tenure-track positions that were vacated due to retirements,\u201d Haberman proposed. \u201cSeveral of these positions have been open for many years, presumably due to budget constraints.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The discovery of a budget surplus came in the middle of faculty bargaining, where faculty and administrators meet to explain their positions and come to an agreement regarding faculty compensation and benefits. Kenton believes that the budget will play a role in faculty negotiations going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis revelation may complicate bargaining,\u201d Kenton remarked. \u201cI think the expectations are high as a result.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jensen agreed, stating: \u201cThis has undoubtedly affected our collective bargaining processes as we seek to have faculty salaries that will recruit and retain faculty, decisions about replacing faculty who have left (Western), and funding for programs to benefit faculty and students here at (Western) as we seek to make this the best educational experience for students we possibly can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n Photo by: Paul F. Davis<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sam Dunaway | News Editor On May 8, a university budget update given by president Rex Fuller and interim Vice President for Finance and Administration Jay Kenton disclosed a new revelation to Faculty Senate: the university budget, which was previously thought to be in a deficit, is actually in a $4 million surplus. This surplus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":7767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}