Minnesota State will still have to make more cuts outside of faculty and programs, according to the budget forecast presented Tuesday.
The cuts will have to come from non-faculty and staff or non-salary items. This could possibly include equipment such as computers, or supplies like department paper budgets.
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Scott Olson said there is plenty of time for these cuts to be decided yet, so he encouraged MSSA members to gather information about what students would prefer to cut.
"We want you to be the one student voice," Olson said.
Olson expressed his apologies for the pain the faculty and program cuts have caused the MSU community.
"We tried to put the cuts in places where the harm would be the least," Olson said.
Even so, he said he understands that everyone views the cuts differently, and that they have affected many people.
All of these cuts are in preparation for the 2012 fiscal year when the budget will have a $10 million deficit. The 2012 budget shortfall will not be a quick fix, Olson said. With the baby boomers retiring, everyone else is looking at a permanent budget problem.
Many senators missed the meeting to lobby for the budget crisis at the capitol in St. Paul. President Murtaza Rajabali thanked them and reminded senators that many students from programs that were cut still need to finish their degrees. Some programs cut, such as computer science, are already running into problems because some companies have stopped recruiting because of the suspension.
Students from Winona State University proposed that MSU become a plastic-bottle free campus. They suggested MSU look at replacing the plastic bottle vending machines with aluminum cans.
"Plastic bottles take 700 years to decompose in a landfill," Winona State student Johanna Gillard said. "Plastic is not recyclable."
Plastic bottles can be recycled into many different plastic items and usually end up in landfills. Aluminum cans take only 35 years to decompose in a landfill, and use less energy to recycle them into new cans.
Elena Shufelt is a Reporter staff writer
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