College Park Students for a Democratic Society

-Under construction-

The University is shifting its course. Unending budget crises are being used as a pretense for dismantling the very fabric of higher education and the public University.

Several students have posted some budget info (albeit incredibly unhelpful) here.

Some criticism:

• There is a huge amount of inequality in funding for individuals and departments
  • Prestigious departments have huge budgets compared to those that bring less money in (Van Munching vs. Tydings)
  • Sports programs draws a great deal of funding but put little of their earnings back into the rest of the university
  • Sports coaches and many administrators earn far larger paychecks than faculty
  • While faculty and staff take effective pay cuts in the form of furloughs, departments are being given large funds to poach high-profile professors from other institutions
  • Faculty and staff are heavily impacted by budget cuts, while the highest-earning people are largely insulated

• Rising tuition undercuts the purpose of a public university
  • When no longer affordable, we are no longer accessible to all
  • This particularly hurts those of lower socio-economic status who are underrepresented in higher education
  • Minority enrollment drops when tuition rises
  • Those who are currently enrolled face increasingly insurmountable debt
  • A public university is primarily a service to the larger public; rising tuition goes against this basic goal

• The university is becoming increasingly privatized
  • Rather than directly address the problems that capitalism has caused, we are digging ourselves deeper and deeper with temporary measures
  • Not-for-profit services are being replaced by for-profit services that are focused on benefiting a company rather than students
  • New apartments being built are expensive for students, but few university-owned alternatives are available
  • When these privatized services prove to be inefficient, we are left to pick up the pieces
  • Because Barnes and Noble is not making enough money at the campus bookstore, students must pay extra fees to make up losses
  • Privatized services means less jobs with steady pay and benefits for those that really need them
  • Increased corporate presence on campus leads to increased corporate influence on campus; academic freedom is a scrawny ideal when up against corporations’ economic muscle

• The budgeting process is opaque and lacks student/faculty/staff input
  • The budget was initially very difficult to access
  • Even after being stolen by students, it is incomprehensible and lacking in detail
  • Budgeting meetings take place behind closed doors; we rely on administration spokespeople to find out what is going on
  • All of our supposed means of representation have little real power
  • The SGA cannot cause policy change related to important issues
  • The UMD Senate largely rubber stamps administration policies
  • The highest ruling body is the Board of Regents, which is largely unconnected to our campus and has only one student on it
  • There is little opportunity for open discussion between students, faculty, staff, and the administration in search of a sensible approach to budget decisions
  • We are all affected by the budget crisis, but the budgeting process is essentially undemocratic

• The administration is trying to hide its cuts behind façade of normality
  • Administration is evasive and misleading when questioned about its actions in the current economic situation
  • Furloughs are essentially pay cuts, but they serve to make it seem as if changes are not permanent
  • Even with our deficit, there are new buildings being built to make the school seem superficially normal
  • Administration is trying to swell our rankings by throwing money left and right, wooing notable professors
  • Instead of fixing problems, the administration uses temporary measures hopes to draw attention away from them

• The administration is choosing to sacrifice our quality of education in order to perpetuate systemic flaws in our institution
  • Education is the university’s main purpose; it should be protected above all else
  • Administration has taken a path that sacrifices what is really important for superficial indications of normality
  • When departmental budgets are cut, faculty and staff salaries drop, and tuition and fees rise, our education suffers
  • This approach is short-sighted and fundamentally unsound
  • Our administration has failed to explore the alternate paths to this that can and must be followed
  • If cutting into our education is the only option that we have left, our institution is decayed to the point that the unsustainable, deeply damaging sacrifices which we are making cannot save it
• What are some better options?
  • A democratic decision making process is key to any budget decision
    
  • Budget transparency is a precondition for this
  • Rather than cutting education, we could:
  • Eliminate administrative waste (especially high salaries)
  • Balance out funding between departments to help those that are hurting the most
  • Move towards increasing not-for-profit services rather than reducing them
  • Cut programs less related to education
  • Take a clear stance with the government that a quality public university requires more funding