M
THE MUR R AY STATE
NEWS
April 26, 2018 | Vol. 92, No. 27
Budget cuts rock universities near and far Elizabeth Erwin News Editor
eerwin1@murraystate.edu
With the state budget approved for the upcoming academic year, universities across Kentucky are finding ways to cope with the losses in funding. The budget will cut base funding to public universities by 6.25 percent over the next two years but will also allocate $31 million into a performance funding pool. Kentucky’s eight four-year public universities are experiencing shortfalls, and their administrations are identifying actions to balance the holes in their budgets. EKU At the forefront of budget cuts, Eastern Kentucky has taken more public measures compared to other universities to make up for their expected $25 million shortfall. These measures include the suspension of certain employment positions and programs. “Given our new fiscal realities, the University simply could not continue with a businessas-usual
approach,” President Mike Benson said in a letter to the campus community. “After a thorough program review process, 12 degree programs, two certificates, four minors and three concentrations were recommended by the Provost and Deans’ Council for suspension or transition based on enrollment trends, graduation rates, potential for growth and, in one case, changing professional requirements.” University employment will also be reduced as 153 positions will be terminated. “Just as with our academic programs, a reduction in personnel was unavoidable,” Benson said. Despite these cuts, Eastern Kentucky has decided to remain committed to freezing tuition costs for the upcoming academic year. O t h e r notable
cuts by the university include the closing of their regional Danville campus and restructuring the marching band. NKU In Florence, Kentucky the budget plan is expected to offset Northern Kentucky by $3.2 million. To prepare for the shortfall, 78 faculty members received letters of potential non-reappointment on March 30, according to The Northerner, Northern Kentucky’s student newspaper. The faculty members belong to a variety of departments, but 47 were from the College of Arts and Sciences. Despite the letters, there have been no public plans to cut faculty or programs.
MSU Morehead State currently plans to freeze tuition and housing rates for the upcoming academic year, although these plans are still dependent on a vote of approval from the Board of Regents during their June meeting. “Even in difficult times in state budgets, Morehead State University has a commitment to retaining its longheld status as the most affordable university east of Frankfort,”
Morehead State President Jay Morgan told The Morehead News. To keep this commitment, the university has attempted to find faculty members willing to voluntarily separate from the university or reduce their employment status. “We are resilient,” Morgan said. “Morehead State University has been resilient for 130 years now, and will continue to be. We aren’t going anywhere.”
WKU Western Kentucky University is hoping to decrease their current budget by $16 million in order to make up for the loss of state funding. A budget council was able to identify possibilities that would result in a $15 million reduction. WKU President Timothy C. Caboni hopes that recommendations made by deans and division heads will help the university reach the goal of reducing their budget by $16 million.
see BUDGET, page 2
Graphic courtsey of Savnna Hatfield
Engineering geared up after win Ashley Traylor Editor-in-Chief
atraylor@murraystate.edu
A group of engineering students have more money in their pockets and a national award to add to their resumes. The Murray State team won the 2018 National Fluid Power Association’s Vehicle Challenge Competition in Ames, Iowa which was held on April 12 and 13. Students built a 3-wheeled recumbent bike powered by hydraulics for the competition. Joe Irby, senior electromechanical engineering technology major, said Murray State was the only team to have a 3-wheeled bike at the national competition. The team was made up of seven students: Irby, Kevin Mackie, Grant McCuiston, Cooper Lindberg, Evan Kellems, Kyle LeBarron and Joey Caldwell. Lecturer in the Institute of Engineering, Bry-
ant Harrison was the faculty adviser. Harrison said fellow Lecturer Jake Hildebrandt also played a major role in preparing the students. “This is done as part of a senior design project,” Harrison said. The project is broken up into two classes, the fall senior project and the spring senior project. Harrison said the students enrolled in the fall semester are responsible for building the prototype and the students in the spring make the final product and attend the national competition. However, he said students from the fall class also made the trip to Iowa. The contest rules state that the teams must use hydraulics to power their vehicles. Therefore, the students are free to design anything they want with the hydraulic circuit. Irby said he learned about more than just engineering throughout the competition.
“As a team, we learned how to meet deadlines and get things accomplished in a timely manner [by] contacting companies and figuring out what parts we needed and then contacting them and getting the parts and putting them to use,” Irby said. He also said the competition is an excellent networking opportunity for engineering students who are about to graduate. The students spent five days in Iowa for the competition, which was sponsored by Danfoss, a global producer of products and services headquartered in Denmark. Irby said one of the highlights of the competition was getting to show the engineers of Danfoss their design. “Every night we were up there they were hanging out with us and we got to talk to them and learn a lot from them,” Irby said. While this is Murray State’s second time winning in about ten years, Harrison said there
Photo courtesy of Bryant Harrison
Joe Irby competes in the sprint race that Murray State won.
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was one thing that made this team stand out over all of the competitors, past and present. “What was really unique this year, and no team has ever done in the history of this competition, and there have been lots of teams over lots of years, is that they decided to actually power the bike by pumping with their core and their arms,” Harrison said. “The main thing that does for them is that is allows them to have a greater efficiency by using hand pumps. That is a pretty unique design and the judges were absolutely blown away with the thought that went into that because it did make the bike much more efficient.” Other schools that participated included Purdue University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, West Virginia Tech and the University of Cincinnati, among others.
see NFPA, page 2
Photo courtesy of Bryant Harrison
The Murray State team shows off their award-winning design.
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SGA tackles campaign finance Elizabeth Erwin News Editor
eerwin1@murraystate.edu
Moments before the newly elected 82nd Senate of the Student Government Association was sworn in, the former senators of the 81st Senate voted to pass changes to election procedures. The changes include the introduction of campaign spending limits and regulations on candidates running together on a ticket. Now presidential candidates running together with an executive vice president candidate will not be able to spend more than $875 on their campaign. Senators will not be able to spend more than $400. The new procedures will also require candidates to disclose the source of any political donations they receive. Donations will only be able to be received from student organizations or individuals associated with Murray State. “There were no spending caps with the last election,” Connor Moore, former director of the Election Ways and Means Committee said. “Candidates could spend however much money they wanted on their campaigns.” Across the board, members of the 81st SGA voiced concerns for past elections being focused more on exposure than candidate ideas. “The bill will make SGA elections more idea driven rather than money driven now that every candidate is on a level playing field when it comes to finances,” former Chief of Staff and bill author Aaron Sexton said.
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By imposing spending limits, Sexton and Moore believe it will encourage more students to run. “The election process is more level than ever and students should be eager to use this to run for a position in the student senate,” Sexton said. Campaign finance isn’t an unfamiliar topic for university student governments. “This bill helps the Murray State SGA fall more in line with other student governments across the state and the nation as a whole,” Sexton said. “From my research it is very, very rare for an SGA to not have these spending limits in place.” Sexton mentioned the spending policies of several universities during the meeting including Appalachian State University which has a $750 limit for presidential candidates. “This bill will help ensure the integrity of the Murray State SGA and will make elections more fair and more in depth than ever,” Sexton said. With electoral procedures behind them, the 82nd Senate decided to move forward during their first meeting on April 25 by approving a resolution to support the Executive Council Strategic Initiatives. The initiatives outline the priorities for SGA for the upcoming academic year and include emphasis on increasing university enrollment and increasing diversity within SGA. For those interested in getting involved with SGA, the current vacancies are for two Richmond College Senators and one senator for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.
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