Crap
Here is an article from the Oracle (USF newspaper for those who don't know what it is). I'm sure everything will work out, but who knows.
I hope Powers keeps his promise to help seniors first.
Other schools face changes
Although the SACD is considering combining with CVPA, CVPA also has internal budget issues with an existing school within the college.
A mere seven years after two University fine arts schools merged because of budget cuts, the combined school is facing an additional budgetary blow.
The schools of theater and dance combined after University-wide budget cuts in 2001, director Marc Powers said. He called the effects of that cut "huge."
"They went from lots and lots of funding available for special projects to little funds available for that," he said.
The department - which made a decision to take phones out of faculty offices this summer to save $10,000 - has not yet recovered from the 2001 cuts. The school is facing budget cuts of up to 25 percent, though a final decision has not yet been made by the University.
"It's like that cartoon with the piano hanging overhead, and we're standing under it not knowing when it's going to fall, but hoping that we're looking up when it happens," Powers said.
"We're in the same position that every other academic unit is in," Powers said. "Everybody in the entire campus is really stuck in the same situation of not really knowing yet. We know the worst case, but we don't know the best case yet and we don't know which is more likely."
He said the School of Theatre and Dance will not know what its budget will be until July 1, which will make it difficult to plan what classes will be offered and which will have to be cancelled. Powers called the cancellation of classes a probability.
"The way funding cuts are being done, our only way to handle it is to cancel classes."
Powers said more than 95 percent of his department's budget is for personnel. To deal with cuts, he said the department would have to cancel courses, particularly those taught by adjuncts and non-tenured faculty - which make up 25 percent of faculty in the department.
As to which classes the department would cut, Powers said his priorities differ from the University's.
"Obviously, we would want to make sure that we keep the ones that are needed for theater majors - that would be my preference," he said.
"I want to make sure that students that are here in the program are going to be able to graduate. My obligation is to my seniors who have put in their time and ought to be able to graduate, so they come first."
Powers said he puts the needs of seniors first, followed by juniors, sophomores, freshman, and then general education students.
The University, however, runs on credit hour production, meaning it must fill larger classes with more students at a lower cost.
Those classes tend to be filled with students taking the class for general education requirements.
"If we have to make sure that we bring in a significant number of credit hours, that means that the classes for advanced majors are more expensive and have smaller numbers," Powers said.
The cuts will also affect the number of shows that the school would be able to offer in the future.
At this point, Powers said he has not been able to share much information with students.
"I can't tell them because I don't know how much the cut will be. We could find out that we have no cut or we could find out that they cut 25 percent."
While shows are paid for through ticket revenue, advertising, gifts and foundation accounts, faculty need to be released to direct and design for the shows. Power said the amount of work that faculty puts into a show is much more than they put into teaching a class.
"Those shows are really our labs; it's their science lab," he said.
"So it's important for us to keep those labs running, but they do have expenses. If I have to make sure that faculty are teaching more, then that might mean that we reduce the number of shows."
Powers said the challenges he faces reflect the need for broad changes to fix the educational system in Florida.
"What would be nice is if the people of Florida would say 'this is ridiculous, we want to have world class education in the state, and we want to support it,'" Powers said. "Something has to give, either the people of Florida as a whole are going to have to pay more taxes to make education throughout the state be good or the Legislature is going to have to set it up so that the people getting the education pay more tuition or it's going to go downhill. It's going to be less available to students and the quality is going to start to suffer if it hasn't already."
Some theater students said that it is an unfortunate situation for the school.
"I think it's sad that all the arts are the first to take a hit," said Corey Rawlings, a senior majoring in theater and art.
Matt Frankel, a junior majoring in theater and art, isn't worried about registering for classes.
"I'll only be worried if there are no teachers to teach them," he said.
I hope Powers keeps his promise to help seniors first.
Other schools face changes
Although the SACD is considering combining with CVPA, CVPA also has internal budget issues with an existing school within the college.
A mere seven years after two University fine arts schools merged because of budget cuts, the combined school is facing an additional budgetary blow.
The schools of theater and dance combined after University-wide budget cuts in 2001, director Marc Powers said. He called the effects of that cut "huge."
"They went from lots and lots of funding available for special projects to little funds available for that," he said.
The department - which made a decision to take phones out of faculty offices this summer to save $10,000 - has not yet recovered from the 2001 cuts. The school is facing budget cuts of up to 25 percent, though a final decision has not yet been made by the University.
"It's like that cartoon with the piano hanging overhead, and we're standing under it not knowing when it's going to fall, but hoping that we're looking up when it happens," Powers said.
"We're in the same position that every other academic unit is in," Powers said. "Everybody in the entire campus is really stuck in the same situation of not really knowing yet. We know the worst case, but we don't know the best case yet and we don't know which is more likely."
He said the School of Theatre and Dance will not know what its budget will be until July 1, which will make it difficult to plan what classes will be offered and which will have to be cancelled. Powers called the cancellation of classes a probability.
"The way funding cuts are being done, our only way to handle it is to cancel classes."
Powers said more than 95 percent of his department's budget is for personnel. To deal with cuts, he said the department would have to cancel courses, particularly those taught by adjuncts and non-tenured faculty - which make up 25 percent of faculty in the department.
As to which classes the department would cut, Powers said his priorities differ from the University's.
"Obviously, we would want to make sure that we keep the ones that are needed for theater majors - that would be my preference," he said.
"I want to make sure that students that are here in the program are going to be able to graduate. My obligation is to my seniors who have put in their time and ought to be able to graduate, so they come first."
Powers said he puts the needs of seniors first, followed by juniors, sophomores, freshman, and then general education students.
The University, however, runs on credit hour production, meaning it must fill larger classes with more students at a lower cost.
Those classes tend to be filled with students taking the class for general education requirements.
"If we have to make sure that we bring in a significant number of credit hours, that means that the classes for advanced majors are more expensive and have smaller numbers," Powers said.
The cuts will also affect the number of shows that the school would be able to offer in the future.
At this point, Powers said he has not been able to share much information with students.
"I can't tell them because I don't know how much the cut will be. We could find out that we have no cut or we could find out that they cut 25 percent."
While shows are paid for through ticket revenue, advertising, gifts and foundation accounts, faculty need to be released to direct and design for the shows. Power said the amount of work that faculty puts into a show is much more than they put into teaching a class.
"Those shows are really our labs; it's their science lab," he said.
"So it's important for us to keep those labs running, but they do have expenses. If I have to make sure that faculty are teaching more, then that might mean that we reduce the number of shows."
Powers said the challenges he faces reflect the need for broad changes to fix the educational system in Florida.
"What would be nice is if the people of Florida would say 'this is ridiculous, we want to have world class education in the state, and we want to support it,'" Powers said. "Something has to give, either the people of Florida as a whole are going to have to pay more taxes to make education throughout the state be good or the Legislature is going to have to set it up so that the people getting the education pay more tuition or it's going to go downhill. It's going to be less available to students and the quality is going to start to suffer if it hasn't already."
Some theater students said that it is an unfortunate situation for the school.
"I think it's sad that all the arts are the first to take a hit," said Corey Rawlings, a senior majoring in theater and art.
Matt Frankel, a junior majoring in theater and art, isn't worried about registering for classes.
"I'll only be worried if there are no teachers to teach them," he said.