Special Section
KANSAN
The University of Kansas—Lawrence Kansas
82nd Year, No.63
Budget Cuts Hurting Art Museum
Friday, December 3, 1971
See Page 2
'We're Still Treading Water, But Can We Continue?'
KU Administrators Bemoan Budget Cuts
By JOYCE DUNBAR Kansan Staff Writer
"We can, by 1980, look like any one of 300 public universities, most of which have been made into universities in the last ten years. We can backslide into that point in one heck of a hurry. Or, we can maintain what has been built over a century for the future," he namedancellor E. Laurence Chalmers said recently.
"Basically, the problem is not that there won't be a University of Kansas left next year, or five years, or ten years from now, but what kind of a University will be here? Will it be one of the hundreds of large mediocre state institutions that mass produce students? We're still treading water, but will KU continue to be, as it was last year, one of the 20 best public universities in the country?"
"The tragedy is that it is not immediately apparent to everyone when this decline starts. It's usually only apparent after it's progressed past the point of salivation." Chalmer said.
The University's academic program has both the quantity and the quality which is reflected in the budget, Raymond Nichols, executive secretary of KU, said.
Heller said most of the budget came to the University in two segments. One of these segments is used for salary and wages. The other portion is used for an area named "other operating expenses."
In addition to this, Heller said, there are a few so-called minor items, which generally do not affect the major thrust of the KU campus. This category involves programs and projects which the state legislature wants to see done, and makes the administration responsible for, he said. For example, the budget is responsible for the law enforcement training center located in Hutchinson. This, then, is a separate line, and KU is unable to do anything with this money.
Apart from the two major segments, the budget re-allocates the amount of money the University estimates it will collect in student fees. If we are fortunate enough, Heller said, to have received funds from the legislature for capital improvements, that, too, comes as a separate item.
Heller said the two lump sums were very important, because the University could not shift things back and forth. Now, the University can use the money collected from student fees for either salaries or other expenses. But salary money cannot be taken and spent on supplies or equipment, and other operating expense money cannot be spent on student wages, faculty salaries or anything that is paid in the category of salary and wages.
The fact that the University has the same amounts of money available this year that were available last year, means that, in the area of salary and wages, KU actually has less money available this year. There are some added situations that the state legislature did not provide for, such as increases in civil service pay raise and the addition of new employees to unemp deployment compensation for all University employees. This all had to come out of the same money which was available last year, Heller said.
In the other big area, the "other operating expense" money, the fact that postage rates have gone up, some of the utility bills have increased and others not. Everything have gone up create a pinch. Heller said.
In both major areas, then, KU has had somewhat less money available than last year, and at the same time, it has more students than it had last year.
KU is not in a position to establish its own maximum enrollment, Heller said. It must admit every student that graduates from an accredited college or university, which it probably means that it does not control the enrollment
KU will probably be faced with several hundred more students next year than it had this year, Heller said. Unless funds are present to meet the instructional needs of these students, one of two things must happen. Either classes will increase in size and enrollment, or we will have to decide to eliminate entire courses.
The most immediate effects of the financial situation show up in terms of facilities and the size of classes. How sensitive any one student is to the problem depends on his experiences, Chalmers said. These range from 600 people in an auditorium to a comfortable group of eight or ten in a less expensive building. But more than that, the said, is that more students are in larger classes than ever before in the history of the University.
"It's relatively easy to say that there's always room for one more chair in the classroom," Heller said. "But there are many classrooms in this University that are already used to their capacity, KU doesn't have a totally flexible situation," he added.
KU is limited by the physical setting in which it is operating, and many areas are unable to handle additional students. If new sections were added, it would mean that some other course would not be taught. This represents only one of the possibilities the University is faced with. In order to keep doing the job KU ought to be doing, the range of courses may have to be reduced. Heller said.
Concerning supplies, Chalmers said that there were a number of schools and departments that were literally out of funds, as far as even the smallest one of mimeographed paper for examinations.
See KU ADMINISTRATORS on Next Page
State Solons Speculate On Future Budget Plans
Kansan Staff Writer
By CHRIS CARSTENSON Kansan Staff Writer
Kansas state legislators appear to be in a "wait and see" period over future funding for higher education.
"It's impossible to predict what the legislature will do until we receive the governor's budget recommendation in January," Rep. Morris Kay, majority floor leader of the House, said recently.
But according to Sen. Tom Van Sickle, R-Fort Scott and chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the next six to eight
weeks will be crucial to the decision legislators make.
To Rep. Jerry Harper, member of the House Ways and Means Committee, "It looks like we'll have another year of no funds."
The problem the legislators face is how to raise the needed money. Harper said that if the legislators could "just forget about the governor," more funding might be possible.
Students Push for Budget Increase
By DIANE ARMSTRONG
B I D I N E A M S T R O N G
Kansan Staff Writer
Fearing stringent financial cutbacks and noting a lack of positive support for higher education, a student-initiated group has announced a campaign of concern for the quality of
colleges and universities in Kansas.
"Concerned Students About Higher Education" said in a statement Nov. 18 that they were concerned "about the erosion of quality that only can lead to sacrifice in programs and personnel."
"Lack of faculty salary increases and lack of funds for new facilities have resulted in overcrowding in the classrooms and libraries," said Dean Kackley, first law student from Lawrence.
Leffel Heads Concerned Students Group Seeking students to launch a grass roots effort to gain support
"We do not believe that the people of Kansas are a ware of any deterioration in the educational opportunities at our state and Rusty Leffel, second-year law student from Prairie Village.
The Concerned Students have no president or chairman, and are not connected with any other organization, according to Leffel.
"The purpose of the group is to channel and coordinate the efforts of the individual students," he said.
Nancy Archer, Anamosa, Iowa, sophomore, said students should talk to their parents, neighbors and both boys. SIMpishizes personal contact an informal way to let people know that there is a problem."
"Every student then has a role in building a commitment with his friend."
Ann Herold, Topeka senior, said that while federal funds had increased by $13 million over the previous year, there would otherwise have been a decrease in the number for higher education in Kansas.
At the SUA-sponsored forum on higher education Nov. 18, State Rep. Jerry Harper and Mr. Means commit, and Means Committee, said, "The state of
See FUNDING on Next Page
In his 1971 budget report to the legislature, Gov. Robert Docking promised to veto any attempt to repeal the lid on property taxes, veto increases of local property taxes without voter approval, and veto sales tax increases until tax reform is accomplished.
In that speech the governor also said, "The years of this administration have been a period of tightening the belt and straightening the posture of state government. While we have been financially conservative, we have learned that education chances those programs essential to the providing adequate services for the people of Kansas."
Van Sickle said citizens of Kansas didn't think higher education was in their best interest, "if it means raising taxes."
He admitted at the same time, however, that he didn't think the average citizen knew that quality meat might be sacrificed with the cuts.
"You've got to convince these senators that a little bit of their political hide will be left intact if they raise state taxes," Harper said. "It seems that the public treats them to love the public that they are more fiscally conservative than the governor."
According to Van Sickle, once it is decided whether or not taxes will be raised, things become fairly simple. "Then the only thing left is to decide where to cut the money," he said.
Van Sickle said he didn't see that there would be "one whit of difference between this year's and next year's legislatures." He said legislators' views probably wouldn't change until there was a
Tom Van Sickle
new election.
He also attacked the governor for not taking enough personal interest in his committees. "I think there ought to be a law that said the governor has to sit through budget hearings," Van Sickle said.
When Kay was asked about cuts to education, he said he thought the people of Kansas were concerned more with the administration than with students themselves. Asked to define administration, Kay said it meant administration in the general sense: the governor, the Board of Regents and university officials.
Rep. John Vogel said he thought communication between higher education and the public got to the point where no one was not responsible for their actions.
"As long as you get the money, there is no change or reevaluation of programs," Vogel said.
"You've got to realize the heat pride in education," Kay said.
Vogel added, "They just want some answers."
Asked what he thought the effects of the cuts would have on the University, Kay said he thought it probably would force the University to re-evaluate some of its programs.