FACULTY SENATORS DISCUSS BUDGET CUTS

Southeast Missouri State University hopes to make up nearly half of an anticipated $942,000 in added state budget withholdings by increasing student fees.

Cuts in university operations are expected to make up for the rest of the budget shortfall, Allen Gathman, Faculty Senate chairman, said Wednesday.

Gathman is a member of the university's Budget Committee, which is looking at how to bring Southeast's budget in line with state funding cuts scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.

Gathman said that in addition to increasing tuition, university officials are looking at hiking the textbook rental fee from $7 up to $10, $12, or $15 a course.

He said Student Government President K.C. Martin, who attends the Budget Committee meetings, has suggested that it would be better to hike tuition rather than textbook charges.

One budget cut being considered calls for streamlining summer courses.

At Wednesday's Faculty Senate meeting, several senators expressed concern about the possibility that low-enrollment summer session courses might be eliminated.

Gathman said Provost Leslie Cochran has suggested that the university should strive to reach a summer enrollment of 17 students per course offered, which is slightly higher than the current target enrollment of 15 students per class.

"What they are talking about is trying to keep the number of student credits up, while cutting the number of faculty needed to (teach summer courses)," Gathman said.

Senators said a number of graduate-level courses may attract as few as five students during a summer session, but that it is important to offer such classes.

Gathman said the Budget Committee will meet next Wednesday to continue looking at how to bring the university's budget for the 1991-92 year in line with the expected state funding cuts.

In other business, Faculty Senator Bruce Parrish reported on the university's efforts to inform the campus community and others about Proposition B, the tax-and-reform package for education that is on the November ballot.

He said the university is not using university funds to advocate passage of Proposition B. "As long as we use university funds, it has to be strictly informational," said Parrish.