MSU to endure operational changes, cuts

Dealing with budget cuts will include operational changes at MSU, in addition to the announced proposals of program and department cuts.

Vice President for Finance and Operations Fred Poston announced general changes to university operations and functions at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting Oct. 30, in addition to possible academic cuts announced by Provost Kim Wilcox.

These changes include a smaller University Relations office, the suspension of certain allowances such as travel reimbursements and the delay of construction and maintenance projects to save money, Poston said.

“It might not be in some cases preferable, but in the cases where we can, we target (certain areas) for reductions,” he said.

MSU Vice President for University Relations Terry Denbow said his department, which is MSU’s public relations branch, is experiencing some of the organizational changes.

“We will notice it every day because we have had to realign assets, we’ve had to realign personnel, we’ve had to realign functions,” he said.

University Relations laid off about 17 people from its former staff of more than 60 people to deal with university budget cuts, Denbow said.

“There were six or seven people who were here on Monday of that week who weren’t here at the end of the week,” he said. “They’re gone and that is very, very hard.”

Some of the changes within University Relations were taken to reduce the unit’s budget, but not necessarily the university’s, Denbow said.

University Relations helps fund the salaries of communication employees in half of MSU’s academic colleges and other units, but by the end of the 2009-10 fiscal year it only will provide support to three of them, he said.

The relationships with the communicators will not end, Denbow said.

“The relationship with the campus communicators hasn’t ended, in fact it’s going to be more aligned than ever,” he said.

At the same time, the division will stop charging fees for campus units to use most of its services, excluding photo and video.

“We will not be charging people for consultation and preparation of things like we did in the past. … (We will) still charge for things we have to charge for, like still photography and videography,” Denbow said.

The university also will suspend certain allowances for travel-related reimbursements and funding for employee recognition, Poston said.

“These don’t amount to individually much, but collectively it makes a material contribution into the costs of running the university,” he said.

Poston said MSU also will save money by delaying construction and maintenance contracts.

“(This was done to) generate, or hold money, or reserves for emergencies throughout this year … as things come forward that you just can’t predict.” he said.

Although students might not be aware of these changes, they still will feel an impact, Wilcox said.

“If we can find administrative efficiencies that save lots of money, most students will probably never see them, but they’ll have (a) great impact on their experience,” he said.