Steve Matthews is an associate professor, head of the history department and chair of the Faculty Council. He went to Monday’s town hall meeting in Griggs Center, where Chancellor Lendley Black gave a presentation about UMD’s plans to solve its structural deficit. Following the presentation, Black and University of Minnesota Chief Financial Officer Richard Pfutzenreuter took questions from the public. JF: What was your big takeaway from Monday's meeting?
SM: My big takeaway from Monday's meeting was that it was a tremendous disappointment. I had hoped that we would have some details which would assure us that we would not have to worry about the cutting of (academic) programs. Universities are about academic programs. No details were provided, no assurance was given, and this leaves the question — I'd like to trust everyone involved — but this leaves the question of where are the cuts going to come from? Because cuts there will be. I don't think (Monday's meeting) did anything to dispel faculty concerns.
JF: Pfutzenreuter and Black both mentioned that, along with the cuts, there has to be more revenue. Which of the avenues they talked about were most viable in your mind?
SM: I don't know what avenues are viable because there is a disconnect between the claim that we need to add revenue and the fact that we do not have the infrastructure to house or to support more students at this point … We have the models for revenue, and yet those models cannot work without significant investment, in particular housing … I haven't had a good answer when I ask 'How are we going to get more students when we have no place to put them?' I think (Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) Schokker's best answer was to laugh and say, 'That's the whole point. That's what we have to take to the Twin Cities: we can't do this without you.'
JF: What would an investment look like, and how big do you think it would be?
SM: I wish I knew … I recognize full well that this investment would be more than just housing. You need a full infrastructure to support more students. What I have not seen is a budget, so I cannot tell you. And that's perhaps one of my frustrations. We go to these informational meetings and we don't really get information that will help us assess the situation. You would like me to assess the situation — I really wish I could, but I don't have any data to work with, and without data, I cannot give you an answer. All I can give you is more questions.
JF: According to the Chancellor, we have already cut $6 million from the budget —
SM: Maybe? We'll see what he means by that, because none of us are quite sure what that means. Again, we have no data … Monday's meeting didn't explain it at all. It just said, 'Trust us. We can do it.' Well, I'm not sure I'm ready to trust you; I would trust you more if you would trust me with the information that shows me how this is going to work. I've seen no numbers.
JF: So you've seen no budget where administration has told you exactly where they have already cut?
SM: Right … I don't believe that (they have cut $6 million yet). I think what they were telling us on Monday is that they haven't cut $6 million but they know how they could … What concerns me especially is that we've got a mandate, in every department — particularly academic departments from what I can tell because that's what I know — from the library through the Swenson College of Science and Engineering to the history department, all of us have a mandate to look at a 3 percent cut this year and a 3 percent cut in the following year. We've been told this is a worst-case scenario. I hope that's correct, because a 3 percent cut followed by a 3 percent cut means cuts in programs and cuts in the quality of education. That's all I know. We haven't been told what the administration is willing to cut. We have not been told what's going on in sports. We have not been told what's going on in Darland … I do not think Monday's meeting did anything to reassure faculty about the possibility of making up the $6 million (deficit) without a serious hit to personnel and faculty — the very people who teach students.
JF: What could administration do to help solve the problem or make you guys feel better about the situation?
SM: The first thing the Chancellor could do is tell us where the cuts are going to come in Darland. How are we going to begin trimming this, and begin with administration. Let me know that administration is at the plate and cuts are coming for them … We can only trust administration if the administration steps up to the plate, and we haven't seen that yet.
JF: What could administration do to get more money from the Twin Cities?
SM: I think the Twin Cities has to step up to the plate as well. I would like to think — but I don't know — I would like to think that Monday's meeting … was a message to the Twin Cities to step up to the plate. The truth is, Pfutzenreuter, who was here on Monday, doesn't make the decisions. President Kaler does … The Twin Cities could solve the problem up here with a pen-stroke. Or with a simple re-thinking about how we relate to one another. But I haven't seen the actual decision-makers showing signs of really doing what it would take to solve our problem up here.
JF: Why do you think that is?
SM: I wish I knew. I wish they'd tell me. I wish they would be more honest. What I think we're facing is obfuscation.
JF: What's the point of that?
SM: The point of obfuscation is usually to hide something. It's a really good question. And that's why somebody like me who studies political history and legal history is nervous when I go to a meeting and they don't give me any details. This is what you do to people who are about to be thrown under the bus. This is what you do to people who are about to be sacrificed. This is what you do when you want to make sure that masses don't ask too many questions: you don't give them answers.
JF: It seems the only short-term way to get out of this — besides a large investment — is more money from the state. What can faculty and students do to get this message across?
SM: Students and faculty need to be able to and need to be free to get this message to the taxpayers of Minnesota who wonder what we're doing here. We need to be able to say, 'This is the tremendous jewel of an education that you can get at the University of Minnesota Duluth.' We need to be able to speak a positive message to the public. We also need to sound a warning, I think, to the legislatures … We need to be supported. $6 million (deficit) is not much in the grand total that we're looking at.
BY JOHN FAHNENSTIEL
Statesman Corresponent