Truman State University tmn.truman.edu THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 tmn.truman.edu
@TrumanMediaNet TrumanMediaNetwork
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Communication department, TMN develop plan for budget cuts BY DANA BARTCH Staff Writer
cess television, was called TruNews until 2007 and News 36 until 2013. Detours is a travel magazine published since 1996. Truman Media Network was Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a series created in 2013 by converging the four media outexamining how potential budget cuts would affect dif- lets and adding a website. ferent academic departments. TMN serves as an outlet for information and provides learning experiences for students interested in As a result of Gov. Eric Greitens’ proposed 7.73 per- journalism and broadcasting fields. cent cut to Missouri’s higher education budget, each “I think student media is essential,” Self said. “As of Truman State University’s academic departments a liberal arts institution, if we’re going to value civic has been asked to cut engagement, there are back on expenses. two things we have to The Department of teach — rhetoric and Communication will be journalism. You need asked to cut $20,000 for those two things to have the 2018-2019 school a functioning democracy year. The cuts to the — you need to be able to communication departunderstand and make arment will come from the gument and analyze ardifferent budgets of the gument and refute argudepartment like student ment. At the same time, media and forensics. in order to have arguAdministrators have ment, you’ve got to have not yet determined exgood journalism.” actly what expenditures Smith said student to cut or by how much, media is crucial to any but Communication Deuniversity because stupartment Chair Jay Self dent media reports on said the plan is not to campus life and serves eliminate any of Truman as a watchdog, keeping Media Network’s platthe people informed. He forms. However, he said said student media proTMN will likely have vides essential informafunds cut for student tion for students as well payroll and the printas entertaining news. ing of The Index, its two Despite the cuts, biggest expenses. TMN will continue to “Both the departproduce The Index in ment and the student some fashion. While the media budgets are on communication departthe line, but more so ment does not plan to the student media budeliminate any aspect of get at this time,” Methe organization, TMN dia Board Chair Mark will have less funding Smith said. Photo by Nicolas Telep/TMN and will create content TMN creates and dis- Students gather in Barnett Hall, home of the De- on a tighter budget. tributes news and en- partment of Communication. The communicaEvery department on tertainment to the Uni- tion department is one of the many academic Truman’s campus is faced versity and Kirksville departments across campus faced with a reduc- with proposed budgets through The Index, tion in funding, and Truman Media Network cuts and has managed de88.7 KTRM, Detours might face cuts as a result. spite them. The commuMagazine, TMN Televinication department and sion and the TMN webTMN are no different, but site. The Index, a weekly newspaper, was established Truman has handled financial setbacks such as this in in 1909. KTRM was established as a 3,500-watt FCC- the past and will continue to do so in the future. licensed radio station in 1998. TMN TV, a series of “[TMN’s future] is as bright as the students want to broadcasts on campus and on local community ac- make it,” Self said.
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New meal options increase SUB traffic BY RAQUEL PITTY-DIAZ Staff Writer
Sodexo will continue to offer new meal options on Wednesdays in Mainstreet Market, which have been available since January 2018. Bodacious Burgers and Wicked Wings are offered in place of Wholly Habaneros to meet students’ desires expressed in Sodexo customer surveys. The new options are available on alternate weeks. Justin Dreslinski, Truman State University director of dining, said the idea began during a car ride with John Stewart, Truman Sodexo operations manager.
Photo by Nicolas Telep/TMN The Wholly Habeneros stand in the Student Union Building’s Mainstreet Market hosts Bodacious Burgers and Wicked Wings on alternating Wednesdays. The new options have doubled business at the location when they are available. “We were talking about things that we could do different on campus … how do we offer more options without the added cost?” Dreslinski said. Dreslinski said Wholly Habaneros typically serves 350 people on Wednesdays, but after introducing Bodacious Burgers and Wicked Wings, customers have more than doubled. He said the new options are allowing students and returning customers to reconsider previous meal choices and try something new. “I don’t think you can go anywhere in town and get a half-pound burger on a brioche bun with fries for $7.50, you just can’t do it,” Dreslinski said. The new options and pricing are not only bringing Mainstreet customers back but are encouraging new customers to go out of their way to get these meals. Dreslinski said the main reason the wings and burgers were added was to bring something new and exciting to campus without the added cost of opening new retail space. Dreslinski also said he thinks the options will break up the monotony of everyday meals at Truman. “It’s a continual improvement process, and we get that information from our students, and I’m open to suggestions for the fall,” Dreslinski said.
Thomas announces student technology fee changes BY NICOLAS TELEP News Text Editor
Photo by Nicolas Telep/TMN Students work at computers in the Pickler Memorial Library lobby. Technology fees for students will transition from a per-semester to a per-credit-hour fee next semester.
Truman State University will make changes to student fees beginning fall 2018. In an email to students on March 9, University President Sue Thomas announced the completion of a review of student fees and said the fee structure will change. Thomas said students would be charged program fees for high-cost disciplines and course fees to cover costs in specific classes. Thomas also said students will be charged a technology fee of $4 per credit hour. This will replace Truman’s current technology fee of $17 per semester. “Truman has utilized special course fees for over 50 years in fields that are more expensive to offer or have specialized needs,” Thomas wrote in the Universitywide email. “Our goal in this revised approach is to make the course-related fees clearer and easier to understand, while producing some additional revenue.” Truman’s current technology fee is the lowest of any public university in Missouri. At the State of the University address in February, Thomas said of the $17 students pay each semester, $6 goes to Pickler Memorial Library and $11 goes to improving bandwidth for on-campus internet access. Currently, the fee is not raising enough money to improve technology in classrooms.
Technology Fee Current: $17 per semester Upcoming: $4 per credit hour
Truman currently has the lowest technology fee of all Missouri public universities
$48 per semester for 12 credit hours $68 per semester for 17 credit hours
Student Government passes resolution encouraging full state funding BY NICOLAS TELEP News Text Editor Truman State University’s Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Missouri General Assembly to restore core funding to the state’s colleges and universities. Gov. Eric Greitens’ current budget proposal calls for a 7.73 percent cut to the core funding of each of the state’s four-year colleges and universities for the 2019 fiscal year. The proposal also calls for the withholding of another 10 percent of core funding if six performance measures are not met by an institution.
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Dave Rector, vice president for administration, planning and finance, said Truman has met all six performance measures for this year. If passed, this would be the third round of budget cuts for Missouri’s public colleges and universities since Gov. Greitens took office, after executive withholdings in January 2017 and a reduction in funding in the budget for the 2018 fiscal year. University President Sue Thomas has said Truman administration will plan for the worst-case scenario, a 7.73 percent cut to the budget. The resolution Student Senate passed highlights Truman’s awards and achievements and emphasizes Truman’s role as the state’s only public liberal arts college.
“While many public universities in the state of Missouri are implementing efficiency strategies, Truman State University has already been utilizing such strategies,” according to the resolution. “As 78 percent of state appropriations go to personnel, Truman State University cannot sustain another large cut to funding without losing vital personnel.” State Rep. Nate Walker, a Republican from Kirksville, previously expressed concern about the proposed cuts to the state higher-education budget and said he thinks the final budget will include more money for higher education than the governor’s proposal.