'U' to revise budget plan

In an effort to bridge the difference of opinion between University administrators and faculty on a budget plan, Provost Nancy Cantor announced yesterday proposed revisions to the current system, starting with its name.

"The first set of problems we see with (Value Centered Management) is with its language," Cantor said. "It claims too much for itself."

Cantor proposed to change VCM's name to simply "the new budget system and the new budget model."

Cantor

The name change was only one of many alterations Cantor proposed during her first address to the Senate Assembly.

The faculty has expressed fears that VCM works against many of the academic goals of the University because it allocates money to departments based on enrollment and other revenue-raising activities. Department heads have been unsure of their costs, especially when working with another unit in joint projects.

Louis D'Alecy, chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the nine-member governing body of faculty, said he was excited after hearing Cantor's speech.

"I thought it was excellent," D'Alecy said. "She's clearly charting a new form of budgetary management."

Not all faculty members were content with Cantor's proposals.

Wilfred Kaplan, a professor of mathematics, said he was happy to see that the provost identified the problems, but believes she simply stopped them for the time being.

"It's my fear that the dangers are so great they will continue to exist," Kaplan said. "I'm pessimistic."

Cantor outlined her three main goals of any "good" budget system. It would address concerns of individual units, encourage collaboration among different units and work for the public good of the entire University.

To accomplish this, Cantor proposed three other changes to VCM. The new plan would reward units that take part in collaborative works with other units and "penalize excessively inward-looking" units.

Citing a "need to support things that are endangered species," the plan would allow the provost to allocate money to activities that can not support themselves but benefit the University.

Under the new plan, individual schools and departments would not be required to pay for central services such as janitorial services, as they were under VCM. The costs of these resources would be absorbed in other ways, Cantor said.

"Much of what seems to be problematic about VCM can be broken down into two areas," Cantor said.

Too much of the money in VCM was automatically allocated and the incentives are strong to take care at local levels but less for collaborative activities and central levels that work toward the public good, Cantor said.

"We shouldn't have a budget system that even appears to give priority to the local at the expense of the collaborative or the shared," Cantor said.

Jon Rush, a Senate Assembly member and Art professor, agreed that the provost addressed what needed to be discussed.

"It's very encouraging," Rush said. "What is very apparent here is the degree of discretion the provost had in the budget."

11-18-97