Sunday Funday
Shhhhh. . . Do you want to know a secret?
How will the Manning offense stack up against the “Legion of Doom”?
THE HAWK
Sports, pg. 15
January 29, 2014
Saint Joseph’s University | Volumn XCII | Est. 1929 | www.hawkhillnews.com
Back on track I
Features, pg. 6
$8.7 million
ERIN RAFTERY ’15 News Editor
t is confirmed that the $8.7 million budget shortfall Saint Joseph’s University faced has now been fully recovered. However, variances could arise depending on financial expenses up until the end of the fiscal year on May 21. The recovered $8.1 million has been made up through a 4.2 percent decrease in the operating budgets in divisions across the board, delayed and deferred hiring, and minimal administrative staff reductions. “It was everybody pulling together and lots of nickels and dimes adding up to dollars,” said Joseph Lunardi, vice president for marketing and communications. “There wasn’t a single big, $5 million item, it was pretty much across-the-board cuts of about 4.2 percent per division.” “One of the good things about what has happened is that Father Gillespie and the provost and our dean, they have not gone into it thinking, ‘we have to cut, cut, cut,’” said Rajneesh Sharma, Ph.D., associate professor and department chair of finance. “We have all concentrated upon making sure that we don’t shortchange our responsibilities to the student,” said Sharma. “We have done some cuts and there are certain things that we were planning on doing that we may not be able to do but those issues are manageable right now.” Some faculty members express concern over the cuts. Dennis McNally, S,J. chair of fine arts, explained that when students pay fees for art supplies, 15 percent of that goes to the department chair for further use in case there is a shortage of supplies. However, that 15 percent is no longer accessible because of the 4.2 percent across the board operating budget cuts.
Despite the shortfall being completely closed, some faculty members feel as though the administration has not been effective in communicating information regarding the budget shortfall. “There will be some statements that we’re in bad shape financially,” said Ann Green, Ph.D., professor of English. “Though we get a sort of spin on that particular thing so I’m always in a position where, [I think] ‘is this a real crisis or is this a manufactured crisis?’ and I think that uncertainty is really bad for morale because the train is always shifting.” Robert Moore, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology and faculty senate president agreed. “My main concern is the uncertainty,” he said. “I can’t speak for everybody, but to me it’s uncertainty not just among the faculty but among staff and others.” Conversely, some faculty members feel that the information comes at a good pace, but the information itself is not correct. “I think that as Father Gillespie is getting information it is trickling down to us on a timely basis,” said Sharma. “Now the issue is not whether it’s trickling down, the issue is the information generation is wrong. So I don’t think it’s a matter of whether it’s coming to us quickly I think it’s a matter of information that is in itself flawed and week by week we see something different so that’s where my troubles have been.” The latest information sent out to the university by University President C. Kevin Gillespie,’72, S.J., was an update on the budget in an email on January 24. It was announced through this email that there had been a series of administrative reductions. Continued BUDGET, pg. 3
Repeated robberies raise concern for off campus students KATHERINE GRYGO ’16 Hawk Staff Throughout this academic year, the Office of Public Safety and Security was notified of six different incidents of off campus burglaries. The victims of these burglaries were Saint Joseph’s University students living in off campus apartments and houses. On January 13, four of the six incidents were made known to Public Safety and Security. According to John Gallagher, director of Public Safety and Security, four robberies were reported in which the burglar forced entry to the home. However, these break-ins occurred over a period of a few months; the incidents reportedly took place on October 20, November 26, December 19, and December
20. Two of the robberies occurred on Woodbine Avenue, one on Woodcrest Avenue, and the most recent occured on North 54th Street. “These four incidents were reported directly to the Philadelphia police, but they were never reported to the security headquarters, and again we look at the Part 1 [a document from Philadelphia Police logging Part 1 offenses such as rape, murder, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, and auto theft] sheets and we find out these jobs that were reported to the Philadelphia Police and then we create our own incident report here at the office of public safety and security. So over the holiday break with the two that were reported to us and then these four that we gleaned from those sheets we have a total of six,” said Gallagher.
Public Safety Investigator, Mark Lemon, says that of the two that were directly reported to Public Safety, “One occurred in the 2400 block of North 54th Street sometime during December 27th , sometime during that day, and another one occurred on the 28th of December in the 2400 block of North 57th Street.”
Continued ROBBERIES, pg. 3