Cuts total $1.8 million over 2 years

By Jack Gillum

The Office of Student Life will reallocate thousands of dollars in student services as university officials aim to save $1.8 million in overall department cuts.

The Office, in tandem with other academic, multicultural and health services, are slated to cut back by about $200,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, said Dean for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger.

"We anticipated that there were going to be some cuts," she said. But student organizations received a one percent increase in appropriations for the 2004-05 budget.

Departments university-wide were "asked to look at their operations" and make cuts appropriately in the next two years, said Dennis Roberts, the university's budget director.

University officials pointed to deficits as they try to balance a projected $242 million budget for fiscal 2004-05. Roberts could not provide specifics on what cuts each department â€" academic or otherwise â€" were facing.

But he said that the university would be targeting typical operating expenditures to reduce costs, such as eliminating university-owned credit cards and combining some administrative services.

The provost's office is one of many departments asked to cut back. Yet administrators were ambiguous with what costs would be made and wouldn't address if any currently-filled jobs would be cut.

The provost's office would reallocate "money to other purposes," said Helen Moritz, the vice provost for undergraduate education. But she added that it would be "inappropriate" to provide specifics on how much would be cut.

Both Roberts and the provost's office shared a sense of ambiguity. Neither could address specifics on the future of current jobs, reiterating each time that resources were being "reallocated."

Budget woes were aggravated last year when the incoming freshmen applicants dropped by 200, in what the Office of Student Life dubbed a nine-year low. Roberts denied that such a drop had been a factor in the $1.8 million in proposed cuts.

Representatives from the University Budget Council had met in March, when administrators warned of operational cuts for the upcoming year.

Tuition is set to raise to $27,135 â€" $1,700 higher than the previous year.

SCCAP budget cut

The Santa Clara Community Action Program voiced concern last Thursday that, despite the one percent increase to other groups, they may have a budget $4,000 less than this year.

About 50 students showed up to the weekly AS Student Senate meeting to a standing-room-only audience in the Benson Parlors.

Jon Gray, director of the Center for Student Leadership and who oversees SCCAP's budget, pointed to currently unallocated funds in SCCAP's budget and a ballooning of the organization's size â€" about 36 percent â€" over the past several years. "The staffing size has increased," he said. "That kind of growth can't be maintained."

But some students, such as former SCCAP Director Blair Thedinger, emphasized the work volunteers do.

"We have students go outside of the Santa Clara bubble all of the time," he said. "They do amazing programs."

Student organizations' budgets have yet to be approved by the Office of Student Life.

û Contact Jack Gillum at (408) 554-4849 or jgillum@scu.edu.