On Monday, Aug. 31, UNC President Erskine Bowles assembled all 17 chancellors of the UNC school system to discuss the execution of a plan which could result in the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The purpose of the plan is to cut the budget by about 10 percent due to the current economic crisis. 

“We worked really hard here to reduce our administrative costs, and become more efficient and more effective, and in some cases we have failed,” Bowles said during an interview with News 14 Carolina.

Bowles says that he estimates that as many as 900 jobs could be lost as a result of the reduced spending plan, the majority being administrative jobs.

At North Carolina A&T, the number of classes being offered has already been reduced and some professors are having to teach extra classes without additional pay.  According to Dr. Guoqing Tang, chairman of the department of mathematics, Distance Learning courses are among the primary classes that the professors who retain their jobs may have to teach without pay.

“The question isn’t ‘will [the administrative reduction] have a negative impact on the university operation’, but the question is how to set a priority so that the impact will be minimized,” said Dr. Tang. 

“The priority is for the students to be served and for costs to be covered so that the students can progress with the timeline and graduate on time. If anyone were to lose their job, whether an administrator, faculty or staff, it would be very bad for their families.”

Both Michael Plater, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Humphrey Regis, Chairman of the Journalism and Mass Communications department, have stated that due to the budget cuts fewer classes will be offered and students will need to plan further in advance to make their course schedules efficiently.

“The UNC system and A&T are obligated to respond to the economic crisis that we have and that’s going to have a pretty dramatic impact on A&T, in addition to the system as a whole,” said Plater.

“However, if tax receipts go down you have to cut expenses in order to make it balance. At A&T what that will mean is a substantial reduction in the number of sections that we offer. Those sections will have a dramatic impact on how students need to register and how they put their program together. 

The penalty for students who choose not to register early is that they may find no openings in class and I suspect that the number of students this Fall found it very difficult to get sections if they waited until the last minute or because of Financial Aid reasons they were dropped and picked back up again, they were very difficult to get back in. 

We’re in a new era with these cuts on how we have to do business and everyone including the deans, the faculty, and the students are going to have to make the adjustment.  I think for the students they need to plan their schedule, they need to plan in advance, they need to take classes when they are scheduled rather than trying to get particular faculty trying to get particular times.

Students may have to take classes at times that they may not be as comfortable with, but the angle that they need to take is that they need to get the classes done.  I suspect that this will go on for a number of years until the economy rights itself and this is not just something that students can just sit on the side for. They have to put themselves in the position to make the changes. 

I will say that the university is providing most of what most students need is making sure that faculty are available and business will be done, however, students will need to make adjustments in order to get out of here efficiently.” 

According to Dr. Regis and Dr. Tang, most classes will be increased in size. The maximum number for most classes is 45 students but certain classes such as labs and “skills” classes are more limited. Regis stated that the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications only allows about 18 students for classes where students demonstrate their skills, such as Broadcast Productions and News Writing. 

Regis also expressed his concern for cuts in programs such as the UNC in Washington program, where students can receive valuable experience toward their careers as well as course credits.

Some students who have heard about the issues with the budget cut  and observed that some their favorite professors are no longer with the A&T staff  have voiced their own opinions on the crisis and the possibilities of having fewer options in making their schedules.

“I think that it’s crazy that they’re even doing this,” said Jessica Mayo, a junior sociology major from Kinston, N.C.  “The professors should get paid because they do a lot in this school and it’s their job to help us get an education so that we can get [jobs] after we graduate. 

As far as the size of the classrooms, some classrooms are already big so people are just going to get lost.  I know some people now don’t even pay attention but as far as bigger classrooms, even more people are just going to sit back and not pay attention and do whatever and not really going to be learning.”

Bowles stated that he wanted to see the plan put into effect as quickly as possible but he has set no specific deadline for the administrative cuts to take effect.   

• Marcus Thompson