U of O budget includes $23.1M in cutbacks
Image by Martha Pearce
2010–11 budget will implement most resource optimization recommendations
THE UNIVERSITY OF Ottawa’s newly approved 2010–11 operating budget will keep the institution out of the red with the help of a controversial plan for spending reductions.
“We’re forecasting a break-even year for the university,” stated U of O VP Resources Victor Simon during his presentation of the budget.
The U of O Board of Governors (BOG) approved the budget and its recommendations for cost cutting initiatives May 31 while about 10 student audience members made their distaste clear with cries of “shame!” and “lies!” accompanied by posters proclaiming “resource ‘optimization’ gave me an education deficit” and “why pay more for less?”
The source of discord was the implementation of a resource optimization initiative assumed in the budget proposal, around which the bulk of the meeting’s discussion was centred. The optimization report, which included recommendations for $31.1 million in cuts, was the result of a year-long consultative process between the Steering Committee on Resource Optimization and faculties and on-campus unions. According to the U of O administration, the $160,000 report had two main objectives—to balance the budget and to enhance the student experience.
When pressed for a definition of ‘the student experience’ by undergraduate representative Amy Kishek, both Simon and U of O President Allan Rock admitted that it was ambiguous. “We haven’t been working from a specific definition,” Rock said. “I think it’s fair to say that student experience is not derived from a single source, but it’s a bundle of factors. I think it’s also fair to say that anytime you reduce spending to ... the services, to the number of professors, the quality of the capital infrastructure, you have to worry about the impact of the student experience. It’s a global term.”
The 2010–11 budget will implement most of the over 180 suggestions for scaling back expenditures, with the exception of student fee increases, cancellation of most small classes, and the reduction of assistantships, scholarships and financial aid. Because of these exceptions, the resource optimization measures will generate cost savings totaling $23.1 million instead of the report’s proposed $31.1 million.
Several board members voiced their approval of the budget; however, concerns were raised over the fact that the BOG did not discuss or approve the optimization report itself, despite it having served as the foundation for the 2010-11 budget.
“It wasn’t for the board, if I may say so respectfully, to debate the optimization report, to accept it or reject it,” said Rock in response. “It’s not the business of the board, that was the business of management. [The optimization report] was our tool.”
Included in the budget was an average tuition fee hike of 4.3 per cent for the upcoming academic year, decided at the April 27 BOG meeting. Tuition increases range from four per cent for returning students to eight per cent for medicine, management, and law students. This hike will result in an $8.9 million increase in revenue for the university.
During the meeting, students in attendance uttered comments, and held up signs, critical of the increase in tuition fees, the optimization report, and the consultation process.
“I know a lot of people are critical of [the resource optimization initiative], and they say they weren’t consulted. Sometimes, when you say you weren’t consulted it means your preferred view wasn’t accepted,” said Rock during the meeting.
Moving forward, the university administration has pledged to work on a proposal put forward by Kishek to improve student involvement in the budgetary process.
A town hall meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, 12:30–2:00 p.m. in the auditorium of Marion Hall to communicate the details of the 2010-11 budget to the student body and the public.
Feb. 3 Fulcrum report on resource optimization: "U of O seeks budget cutbacks"
