Student input vital during budget talks
We were stunned at how few students went to the budget-crunch town hall this week.
Then we learned it wasn’t meant for students.
The announcement was instead sent solely over the faculty list-serv, said Jane Tors, university spokeswoman. Students weren’t even an afterthought, despite the obvious show of interest during the summer discussion of the Pride of the Sierra.
Students deserved an invitation to this talk and it is a shame the university didn’t extend one.
Not to say the faculty didn’t deserve that courtesy – they will doubtlessly feel the impacts of university cuts, potentially for the rest of their careers.
But the cuts will also impact thousands of students – their stays at the university and potentially the rest of their lives.
How many students without an apparent career path would like to decry losing the Career Development Center? How many students would like to give suggestions on tightening the university’s belt to make sure an important function isn’t squeezed out?
We are a very large, and very vocal, base that needs to be appeased and consulted before any decision impacting us is made. And we need to be there from the beginning.
To fix this, the university needs to hold another open forum and this time formally invite students to it. Faculty can come too. So can staff. Include everyone. But make sure to include students.
This isn’t just to make sure our opinions our heard, but also to make sure we know exactly what is happening and to avoid any confusion about what is at stake in these budget cuts.
As people who pay to attend this university, students should have the right to know the details of a $30 million budget cut and give their input on what should or should not be part of it.
Right below this editorial, The Nevada Sagebrush’s formal invites students to discuss the best ways for the university to get through this crunch on our forums at board.nevadasagebrush.com. On the front page, we also published a breakdown of the budget so you can attack the issue as an informed body.
As proof of our desire to participate in this university-wide discussion, we will publish some of these responses in every print edition of The Nevada Sagebrush until the discussion dies or a solution is reached.
We deserve, and will have, a forum to discuss these issues. And it won’t just be at “Pizza with the President.”
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