Marshall University Faculty Meeting: 3/14 (Meeting 3 of 3)

The Marshall University Faculty Senate meeting discussed the annual budget report, courtesy of university President Stephen Kopp, Thursday, featuring information on employee salaries and compensation, how those payments relate to the university budget and state education reform.

Kopp’s presentation, which was in the form of a PowerPoint, mentioned university expenditures of how much it takes to keep the university operating, as well as how much of the universities money goes solely toward employee salaries each year. A majority of university funds, 62 percent, go toward salaries.

Kopp mentioned during his presentation that more professors at Marshall have a full professor rank than any other Southern Regional Education Board accounted universities. The other professors at Marshall have the ranks of associate or assistant professors.

Switching gears to the much discussed budget cuts, Kopp said the state-wide cuts would affect 4-year educational institutions by forcing a 8.94 percent budget cut, in term affecting scholarships and grants for future students. Because of these cuts, students will face a $730 tuition increase for the upcoming school year. Kopp said the university strives to keep tuition costs as low as possible, even if prices must be raised due to the budget cuts.

The presentation ended with Kopp calling senate members to help in the efforts to stop the raise in student tuition and to help find a solution to the cuts.

After conclusion of Kopp’s presentation, he answered questions about the budget report from audience members and members of the senate. The next faculty senate meeting will be Thursday, April 25.

I will be attending the Marshall Faculty Senate meeting on March 14, 2013 as my third and final government meeting requirement for the semester.

Government meeting 2/3. Marshall Faculty Senate

The Marshall University faculty senate discussed several issues during their most recent meeting, Thursday, including the much debated smoking ban as well as campus wide parking issues. The senate, which is made up of faculty members from each department, discussed and voted on issues relevant to the well being of everyone on the Huntington campus.

The first issue discussed at the monthly meeting was the tobacco free policy, which has been discussed multiple times by several groups for more than a year. Some debate did occur from faculty members who are former smokers, and the vote came down to a resounding 60 to 3 vote in favor of the ban. The ban has already been voted on by The Student Government Association, and now faces a final vote with the Board of Governors before the policy becomes officially approved.

Board of Governors representative, Marty Amerikaner addressed the senate to update the group on the board's action items, including the renovations of East Hall for the new INTO program and the budget cuts. According to Amerikaner, for each institution, the budget cut will be closer to 9 percent, versus the previously believed 7.5 percent. This is because financial aid needs to be kept whole, and not be affected by the cuts.

The Legislative Affairs committee took to the microphone after one meeting this semester to discuss the need to increase funding for higher education. Speakers said almost 80 percent of Marshall students are from West Virginia, and an attempt must be increased to recruit students from elsewhere. It was also announced that 11 percent of Marshall freshmen for the 2012-2013 school year came to college with ACT scores between 12-17, and those students require remedial courses, which cost extra money the university does not have, especially during the fast approaching budget cuts. The subject of non-traditional students was brought up as well, suggesting a need for more evening, online and weekend classes to accommodate those students, which also costs extra money. These statistics were all written in a letter to the West Virginia Legislature.
Another widely discussed topic of the meeting was the on-going parking and crosswalk issues going on around campus. Due to the construction of the new engineering building on Third Avenue, faculty and staff members have lost 150 parking spaces, causing drivers to find alternate parking. The construction has also caused a loss of sidewalks, which is dangerous to the blind students on campus. The city of Huntington refuses to assist with this problem due to it being "dangerous" to their city employees.

After 35 minutes of meeting publicly, the senate broke into executive session to discuss suggestions for spring commencement address speakers. The Faculty Senate will meet again on Thursday, March 14.