As departments prepare for inevitable budget cuts, some employees, including those in the CLAS Testing Center and Health Advocacy Office, may find themselves out of a job.

Students will take their last exam in the Testing Center June 16, when it closes its doors permanently. Robert Kohrman, interim provost, said it was a hard decision, but the university had to balance it against other possible cuts.

“(We were faced with) a choice between cutting (the Testing Center) and cutting faculty positions and eroding class size. This is not an activity most universities have. I don’t want to say its a luxury, but it is unusual,” he said. “We’re faced with large budget cuts. We’re being forced to cut many valuable programs we don’t want to lose.”

Catherine Riordan, interim vice provost, said the Center’s annual budget is slightly less than $200,000, which comes from the General Operating Budget plus fees from computerized tests and CLEP tests. About 225 faculty members use the center to give exams.

“It gives close to 180,000 tests. Some classes let students take a test over and over until they get a grade they like, so that number may seem higher than it should be,” she said.

The Center employs one full-time employee, two part-time employees and around 50 students who average about eight hours per week, Riordan said.

Some tests will still be available, she said, including standardized tests for graduate programs admission, CLEP and math competency exams, which will be administered at the Computer Based Testing Center.

Kohrman said many of the existing tests still will be available.

“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to retain as many of those services as possible,” he said. “For example, monitoring (Americans with Disabilities Act) students, that’s required by law.”

Computer-scored exams, with the fill-in-the-bubble format, also will continue to be scored, she said.

“We’re still going to provide scoring of that type of test in (the Office of Information Technology) in Foust Hall, so we don’t have people sitting around scoring tests that could be scored by computer,” Riordan said.

Kohrman said eliminating the Testing Center is a better choice than some.

“Look at it in the context of things yet to be announced, when the full spectrum of cuts are seen, just from this year. ... It’s a challenge to take a very efficient university and a very fine university and reduce it,” Kohrman said.

Health Advocacy, a division of Health Services, is closed this summer for the first time ever, said Sarah Campbell, Health Services director. Health Advocacy presents educational workshops and classes to student groups, Campbell said. Health Advocacy helped bring the AIDS quilt to campus, puts on the Health Expo in fall and does women’s health, birth control and sexually transmitted disease education.

“Our outreach programs ... focus a lot on prevention, like smoking cessation,” she said.

It also helps individual students who have drug or alcohol problems find help.

“We can still provide referrals (for drug and alcohol abuse), but it’s a different process,” she said.

Though the office still will exist in the 2003-2004 year, she said there may be changes in programs offered and positions filled. Because funding to Health Advocacy will be reduced, Campbell said the office is looking into alternative sources of funding, such as grants.

“The Health Advocacy service will still be there. ... (However,) we may have to cut back on some things we’re doing,” Campbell said.

Last year, Health Advocacy employed a Health Advocacy manager, three Health Education interns specializing in substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections and general health, and an Alcohol Prevention manger.

“With the system intact, (a student with a substance abuse problem) would be referred to the Alcohol Prevention manager,” Campbell said.

The Alcohol Prevention manager would talk to student about the nature of his or her problem, then refer the student to a medical professional, a 12-step program like Alcohol Anonymous, the Counseling Center or a treatment center.

Campbell said the Alcohol Prevention manager also took referrals from the Student Life discipline office when student got into trouble for alcohol or drug matters in the residence halls, and organized alcohol classes for students who needed to take one because of the terms of their probation. This may change, if funding is cut.

Starting in fall 2003, the interns may be unpaid and the Alcohol Prevention manager position may be eliminated, Campbell said.

“With the budget cuts to Health Services, that position might be cut.”

Campbell said Health Advocacy has been on campus for at least 15 years. The yearly budget normally is around $150,000, which comes out of the Finance and Administration Office budget. When the 2003-2004 budget goes into effect in July and Health Advocacy learns the final decision on how much funding will be cut, Campbell said the office will decide how many programs and positions have to be eliminated.

“We should know by the time the new budget goes into effect (how much funding will be lost). What we might not know by then is what the exact impact will be. ... I’m hopeful, but to tell you we have a solution today, I can’t do that. We’re looking at different options.”

Campbell said Health Services only reaches individual students who come in for treatment, but Health Advocacy has the potential to reach the entire campus community.

“We’re going to do the best we can to keep the core services, to do what we can to help the students as much as we can. (Health Advocacy) is an essential component of a college health program because it’s a largely educational service.”