Faculty Senate concerned about recent legislation
President Kermit L. Hall fielded questions about the budget and recent legislature Monday at Utah State University’s Faculty Senate meeting.
Faculty concerns centered around the budget cuts’ effects on faculty salaries and the hiring of new faculty as well as the recent legislative bill making it harder for out-of-state students to gain Utah residency.
President Hall said he remained very committed to fighting for higher faculty salaries but was still waiting on final budget numbers. President Hall listed keeping good teachers at the university and gaining new faculty as two of the school’s objectives and main reasons for the Tier II tuition increase.
“We need person power in the classroom and we’re going to get them with the help of tuition dollars,” President Hall said.
“A better day is coming just as this bad day was at one point coming,” President Hall said.
President Hall called his recent meeting with the state Board of Regents a “stormy session” where out of all the colleges and universities in Utah only he and the president of Utah Valley State College came together to fight House Bill 331 Non-resident Tuition for Higher Education. However, he is certain their work helped Gov. Mike Leavitt decide to attach a letter to the bill allowing a grandfather clause, and President Hall is optimistic for the future.
“I think we will definitely get a grandfather clause, we just don’t know how long the beard will be yet,” he said.
President Hall also mentioned that many states have similar residency laws as Utah does now and that some states actually never allow residency for students.
Vice Provost Joyce Kinkead also announced that admission standards are being raised for USU. Instead of automatic acceptance with a GPA of 2.0, students will need a 2.5 or higher. Kinkead also said USU hopes to recruit students with higher ACT scores than it has in the past as well as implement plans to improve its retention rates, graduation rates and improve its academic reputation.
Kinkead said while in the past USU has accepted almost everyone who applies that will no longer be the case. She also said that in the past the university has been passive in its recruitment and is now more active targeting high school students with high GPAs and ACT scores. The Recruitment Office is working with university departments to give out more scholarships so students have more years of school paid for.
Linda Wolcott, vice president for libraries and instructional support, also showed the Faculty Senate the presentation given recently to legislators about the need for a new library at USU. The university asked the Legislature for $40 million to replace the Merrill Library but was only given $800,000. Despite the disappointment, Wolcott called the money “the one good thing that came out of the last legislative session,” and the money will help get the project underway. Wolcott said the money will go to programming, a step of planning that comes before the actual design.
Problems with the existing Merrill Library were listed as: Lack of functionality, numerous life-safety concerns, multiple security problems, inadequate storage, old mechanical systems and inadequate study space.
The new library would be an addition to the Science and Technology Library and would take about two years to build, Wolcott said.