The
S TUDENT P RINTZ www.studentprintz.com
SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
November 29, 2011
Volume 96 Issue 26
ON CAMPUS
Saunders Speaks: USM budget update Jonathan Andrews Printz Writer This time last year, University of Southern Mississippi president Martha Saunders was working closely with the University Priorities Committee and Bob Lyman, former university provost, to cut the university budget. “I told campus this year that we were worried, but we didn’t give up,” Saunders said. “Campus is much more united as a result. We disagreed on some things, but we weren’t divided. It brought out the best in us.” The university made $7.5 million in permanent reductions to the budget through an approach “on all fronts,” Saunders said, “In a word, it was elaborate.” The UPC, which was proposed by the faculty senate, was
a group that represented Southern Miss’ campus and was created solely for the purpose of examining and cutting the university’s budget. “We looked at programs that could be closed or consolidated. We looked at efficiencies, or how we could cut costs within programs. We looked at existing vacant lines that we had and could not fill or collapse and one strategy was early retirements,” Saunders said. Saunders also said that controversy arose from the process, especially concerning closing programs. “We set up an even more elaborate review process to make sure we were looking at everything,” she said. During that appeal process, programs such as religion and Latin were saved, because of student activity and successful appeals to the UPC. Another controversy that
arose during the budget cutting process was cutting the athletics budget. Saunders said that athletics received a proportionate cut to its budget and that they would had to find ways to deal with those cuts. “We have to find ways to help auxiliary programs thrive while also being responsible and good stewards of the state and our students’ money,” she said. Saunders said if she had a mulligan on budget cutting process, then the approach may have been different. “Time was of the essence,” she said. “You do a lot of things differently when you have all the time in the world. If I had it to do over, we would have paused at several steps along the way and provided, not just students, but the whole campus with a chance to give some feedback.” Saunders said she doesn’t want to see that work go to waste and would like for the
UPC to stay in place or be reimagined as a way to guide the priorities of the campus. “We aren’t going on any spending sprees,” Saunders said. She also said because state reductions to the university budget were less than expected, USM had a cushion and was able to put some stabilizing money on reserve. The extra money went toward repairs and upgrades on the Hattiesburg campus, specifically roofs and the bathrooms in the stadiums. Additionally, some faculty and staff members were given raises. Saunders also said Southern Miss has plans for the future including the next phase of Century Park on the old triad where Bond, Scott and Vann residence halls currently stand. Construction on that project is anticipated for mid-2012. “We’ll also be getting some new [academic] buildings. The
President Martha Saunders
good news is that the cost of construction is low, so we’ll get some good deals,” she said. Although Saunders acknowledged that last year’s budget cuts were difficult, she said the university pooled its resources to
See BUDGET, 3
ON CAMPUS
SGA to Light the Way at Southern Miss Arielle Edwards Printz Writer The University of Southern Mississippi will host its 5th annual Lighting the Way for the Holidays Sunday. Serena Williams, codirector of the event, said that Lighting the Way is a university and student government sponsored philanthropy event that features holiday entertainment, hot chocolate, student organizations and business sponsorship for a
DIVERSITY IN CPC
AMA WINNERS
deserving charity. “Lighting the Way is a meaningful way for the university faculty, staff, students and community to gather and celebrate the most wonderful time of the year,” Williams said. As codirector, Williams works closely with this year’s director, Brandon Baker. “Brandon has been so great to work with this past semester,” Williams said. “Together we plan the event, which includes picking a theme and charity, finding organizations to perform and donate and getting tree farms to donate Christmas trees.” This year, the selected charity is the Smyles for Myles scholarship
fund. This fund was established in memory of Myles Henderson, a former student Southern Miss. Henderson served as a resident assistant, male cheerleader, SGA senator and Honors College scholar. In his memory, his parents, Barry and Cindy Henderson, created a scholarship fund to award to students from the greater New Orleans area. All proceeds from Lighting the Way will go toward a student from New Orleans who will attend USM as a freshman. Senior communication studies major Mary Lois Hanna has attended the event since her freshman year. “It draws the Hattiesburg
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community and Southern Miss together to ring in the season of Christmas,” Hanna said This year’s Lighting the Way will feature Dance South of Hattiesburg, A Show of Hands, Spirit of Southern, a men’s a cappella group, a women’s a cappella group and other university student ensembles. There will also be student organization tree displays as well as the main event - the lighting of the university’s Christmas tree. “I love the performances on stage while drinking hot chocolate and talking with friends,” Hanna, who is also the chair of
See LIGHTING, 3
INDEX
Calendar ........................ 2 Sudoku............................ 2 News .............................. 3 Feature ...........................4 Arts & Entertainment......5 Opinion............................ 7 Sports............................. 8