Fears over Winthrop University's budget woes — which mean unpaid time off for all employees and warnings that more cuts could be imminent — are expected to dominate a faculty gathering today.
President Anthony DiGiorgio said through a spokeswoman that he will speak at the 2 p.m. faculty conference at Barnes Recital Hall for the first time since nine furlough days were announced late last year in response to nearly $5 million in state budget cuts.
"We're all scared about the situation," said Cheryl Fortner-Wood, chairwoman of the faculty conference and an associate professor of psychology. "Most of the fears I hear are what's going on at the state level."
Employees have been asked to share cost-saving ideas — instead of budget requests, as in the past — as Winthrop begins an accelerated process of preparing its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
In an e-mail sent to employees Wednesday, DiGiorgio listed Feb. 11 as the deadline for deans and department heads to submit budget documents with suggested areas for savings. University trustees are to consider the ideas at a late February retreat.
Some faculty members have called for a budget presentation from DiGiorgio, saying they want to better understand the situation and the revenue restrictions so they can offer informed input. The faculty conference requested a budget overview last month.
"We're all really curious; we're curious, and we're confused," said biology professor Bill Rogers. "In good times, we didn't worry about it. But times are not good, and they're not going to be good for a while.
"We have to feel like our concerns have some weight."
DiGiorgio declined to comment Thursday through his assistant, Rebecca Masters, saying he preferred to speak directly to the faculty.
Masters said DiGiorgio has kept employees informed through e-mail updates and a Money Matters Web site, where employees can ask questions and make suggestions anonymously.
"Part of what's different now is how rapidly things are changing," Masters said, referring to the university's shrinking state revenue. "It's greatly in flux. It isn't as predictable as the normal process."
A six-day employee furlough was announced in early December after Winthrop, along with other state-supported colleges and universities, was whacked with a 15 percent funding cut.
That amounted to a $3.4 million loss for Winthrop.
The furlough was expanded to nine days just a week later, after state agencies learned they would lose another 7 percent. That pulled another $1.37 million out of Winthrop's coffers.
Rogers said the potential for future job losses is helping fuel the fear among faculty members.
"What can we do to help down the road?" Rogers said. "We've got a campus full of people with good brains. Maybe some people have some good ideas."
Phil Moody, a professor of art and design, said he has questions about spending priorities. He said there isn't money available to repair campus equipment, and he has bought film and photo paper for students more often than in the past.
"All I'm asking is to be better informed," he said. "Stand in front of me, explain it. Maybe I'll understand it more, and, bigger point, maybe the whole campus will support it in a better fashion."
Karen Kedrowski, chairwoman of the political science department, said she's proposing a resolution to poll faculty and staff separately on their budget priorities.
"We're providing information; we're not writing the budget," she said. "If they are trying to decide between X and Y, trying to decide which would be better, this would be another piece of information."
Sociology professor Jennifer Solomon is concerned that the accelerated pace of the budget this year won't allow the faculty much time to give input.
"We understand the need for speeding up the process," she said. "But that doesn't really leave the faculty much time to go through the normal processes by which we could make suggestions."
The faculty meeting will include a resolution to support funding for PASCAL -- Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries -- which had a 90 percent funding cut, to around $200,000.
PASCAL gives students and faculty members access to thousands of Web-based scholarly journals and a rapid-delivery book loan service among libraries across the state. With the funding cut, the content has been dramatically reduced.
"We can't get nearly the access to information that we had before," Fortner-Wood said, and some crucial journals are no longer available through the service.
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