Governor Corzine last week asked his constituents to make responsible decisions and brace for some rough sailing. New Jersey has a $7 billion deficit and Corzine's 2009 budget is projected to slash funding in several areas.
Foretelling cuts to the higher education budget, financial aid, which William Paterson University was slated to receive has been frozen. Several hundred million dollars expected for general expense purposes has been put on hold, and a portion of that money may not be paid at all.
The Board of Trustees at WPU delivered the bad news as carefully as possible at its annual budget meeting on March 7. But all is not lost. While this nation's hard financial times are also causing trouble on the state level, WPU has been able to make do with what it has available, and finished the 2008 fiscal year with a balanced budget.
The board passed three resolutions that came forth at the meeting, including one to award Optimum Lightpath a contract to provide faster Internet access.
Also discussed at the meeting was the notion of awarding a faculty member a seat on the Board. This seat would be a non-voting position. There is already a student seated with the board, also with no vote. Even with no vote, a student and a faculty member on the board may be able to provide an outside perspective and possibly influence the Board to make better decisions.
Susan Godar Ph.D. spoke in favor of adding a faculty member to the Board and was joined by Susan Tardi Ph.D., who represents WPU for the teachers' union. Having a student seated with the Board allows it to be exposed to the student perspective. Godar and Tardi pointed out that the faculty also has a vested interest in the success of the school, and would provide the board with an academic perspective on things.
Jessica Pepe, SGA president spoke in favor of more student representation on the Board.
Currently, there is one student representative to the board of trustees who reports to the SGA Legislature on the activities of the board of trustees. However few students know what one of the university's most influential governing bodies does.
The responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, by New Jersey law, include determining the educational curriculum, notifying the governor and state legislature of the needs of the university and disbursing all money received from tuition fees, state and other resources. The board also determines what various fees will be as well as the salary of the university president.
The Board stated that Trenton has assured them there will be no cuts of funding. This flies in the face of the letter from Governor Corzine which was released via e-mail, also on the 7th. The federal government's stimulus package will be the indicator that determines whether cuts will have to be made; The administration here at WPU will be writing a letter to Trenton asking it to cut as sparingly as possible if it turns out cuts will have to be made.
Members also discussed Middle States, an organization whose mission it is to evaluate schools and universities all across the country and make recommendations on improvements or modifications to the curriculum that could be beneficial to both the student body and the faculty. Middle States will have a team of representatives on our campus during the fall semester. They will receive input from the Board and from the faculty, and then begin a two-year study of day-to-day campus activities. The team will make a decision in 2011 regarding the pending renewal of WPU's current Middle States accreditation.
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