EDITORIAL: Current students cannot get lost in shuffle as CMU cuts, spends
When looking at the university's finances and plans for the future, it almost looks like a tale of two cities.
On one hand, things don't look good financially. Undergraduate on-campus enrollment is set to plummet by 5-7 percent from last year, resulting in a $12 million general fund deficit and a $6 million auxiliary fund deficit in addition to about $10 million in lost revenue. That means cuts are on the way soon, and it's not going to be pretty. Belt-tightening will result in lost jobs, programs cut and less money for colleges to work with to educate their students.
It's a dire situation, that's to be sure. But, you wouldn't know it if you attended the Board of Trustees' Facilities and Finance Committee meeting last week. There, trustees were presented with a capital plan that would have the university, with some help from fundraisers and state funding, spending about $400 million over 10 years on 18 different projects ranging from new undergraduate housing to a new College of Business administrative building to the already-approved Biosciences Building.
Of course, these are only proposals, and most have yet to be voted on or even formally proposed, but if you did not have prior knowledge of CMU's fiscal woes, you would be hard-pressed to think the university is having financial problems.
It seems the university is sending mixed signals, on one hand saying it is desperate for money and on the other saying we must invest heavily into new projects that will pay off in the long run.
There's an interesting debate to be had about whether these projects are worth it in a time of cutbacks. But, no matter what the university and the Board of Trustees eventually decide "the new CMU" should look like, it needs to make sure students aren't left in the dust.
Right now, all the discussion seems to be focused on how CMU needs to make significant cuts to get back on track financially while simultaneously spending significant amounts of money to make the university more attractive to students in the future.
Well, what about the students who are already here? Right now, it's not looking good for them. We are hearing little from the powers-that-be about how students will not be hurt by the impending cuts, instead getting vague promises about how CMU will continue to be a top-notch institution and that any cuts and investments will "reflect academic prioritization," as President George Ross put it.
What university officials need to do is go straight to students and tell them in plain English why exactly CMU is still the place to be for them. Buildings that won't be completed by the time most of them graduate will not do them any good. Neither will huge cutbacks. So, what do students have that will be helpful to them to look forward to over the next few years?
If the administration is serious about putting its students first when it comes to addressing its finances, it should make sure they are the top priority over the next few years, not long-term capital projects that won't pay off for CMU for years.
That's not to say none of these projects should come to fruition. But, CMU needs to set its priorities. And they need to go beyond words and put students first in practice.
