TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018
$16
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
VOLUME 93, ISSUE 32
MILLION CUT
SILAS WALKER • HERALD
President Timothy Caboni listens to fellow speakers at the Board of Regents meeting on Friday in Jody Richards Hall. Caboni announced plans for dealing with the budget deficit going forward. “This is the worst decision anyone in a leadership position has to make,” Caboni said at the end of the meeting.
University College eliminated, workforce to be reduced
BY HERALD STAFF
HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
T
o combat the current $15 million budget deficit, WKU’s Budget Council has recommended eliminating University College, reducing the university’s workforce and returning management of the three regional campuses to the Division of Extended Learning and Outreach. The recommendations were announced at the quarterly meeting for the Board of Regents on Friday. Other recommendations include reducing the number of university vehicles and reorganizing or consolidating similar jobs and units. “We are employing multiple strategies to put WKU on a more sound financial footing for the future, and these include our strategic planning efforts, our work with Huron Consulting to revamp our budget model and, of course, this effort to balance our budget,” President Timothy Caboni said during a press conference follow-
ing the meeting. A number of units will also see budget reductions. Academic Affairs’ budget will have a cut or over $7 million. Athletics will also lose over $1 million which is 8.4 percent of the total cuts.
”We are employing multiple strategies to put WKU on a more sound financial footing for the future...” President of WKU TIMOTHY CABONI
The reductions total just under $16 million. Caboni tasked the Budget Council
last fall with examining WKU’s budget model and addressing the current deficit as well as recommending new policies. The council includes one student, four faculty members and five staff members. The group produced 35 recommendations, a majority of which Caboni accepted. WKU’s deficit stems from a decrease in enrollment and state funding in the past few years, Caboni said. The deficit is expected to continue to grow this year. Gov. Matt Bevin has proposed a 6.25 percent cut to state funding. If approved, WKU could lose $4.6 million. Earlier this year, Caboni said WKU could have a budget deficit as large as $40 million. The $40 million comes from the current $15 million deficit, the anticipated $4.6 million cut, WKU’s nearly $9 million pension obligation and an anticipated $10 million deficit from enrollment changes and fixed costs. Additionally, WKU may also lose $750,000 if Bevin’s proposal to eliminate the Kentucky Mesonet, a statewide weather and climate monitoring system, is approved.
This is the first round of Budget Council recommendations. Caboni said more cuts can be expected after the legislature releases Kentucky’s final budget model in April. University College
Following recommendations from the Budget Council, University College will be eliminated effective July 1. Academic programs, which include African American Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies and Organizational Leadership, will be allocated to other colleges across WKU. “We will consolidate the functions within University College that duplicate campus support systems and integrate others into Student Affairs or appropriate campus departments,” Caboni said in an email. University College currently has the lowest enrollment compared to other colleges at WKU, according to the WKU Fact Book. In 2016, University College had a total enrollment of 1,370
SEE BUDGET • PAGE A2
Athletics prepares for Admission standards to $1.3 million budget cut increase at WKU BY JEREMY CHISENHALL HERALD.SPORTS@WKU.EDU
Following the WKU Budget Council’s recommendation to cut over $1.3 million from the athletics budget, WKU athletics is now tasked with finding where to cut costs. The exact amount of the recommended cut is $1,346,259 from university funding. That would be a 5.7 percent reduction of the athletic program’s 2017-18 proposed budget of $23.6 million. The $1.3 million signifies an approximate eight percent re-
duction that athletics is bearing for the overall $15 million deficit. Athletics director Todd Stewart said he fears that difficult cuts may have to be made, which could threaten WKU’s athletic success. “The biggest challenge is, because of all the other cuts we’ve had up to now, the easy cuts have long since been made. There aren’t anymore easy ones, and you know I think that’s what’s frustrating for everybody in athletics,” Stewart said. “You have to have coaches, you have to have trainers, you have to have a strength coach, you have to travel, so all the areas where we’re SEE ATHLETICS • PAGE A2
BY MONICA KAST HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU WKU will no longer be admitting students with a Composite Admission Index score, or CAI, of less than 60, according to the budget restructuring plan announced on Friday. The CAI is calculated using an applicant’s unweighted high school GPA and ACT score. The applicant’s GPA is multiplied by 20, and then the ACT score is added to calculate the CAI. Previously, WKU required a CAI of 65 or greater to guarantee admission, and applicants with a CAI score between
60 and 64 were “evaluated on a competitive basis,” according to the university’s website. One of the accepted recommendations from the budget restructuring plan is to “revise admission policies/ practices to end admission of undergraduate students with CAI scores below 60.” President Timothy Caboni also said he will evaluate the recommendation to look into “the implications of raising the CAI threshold to 65 or higher.” At a press conference following the announcement of the budget restructuring plan on Friday, Caboni said
SEE ADMISSION • PAGE A3