Awkward Murtha II: No Comment

So Kate and I went to the University Operating Budget Meeting, delivered by Vice Presidents Nancy Stier and Jim Murtha. For the most part, it's incredibly boring, but it allows insight into how the University is being run, and what we have to figure out. If students are going to run the University, that means we need to do everything, not just the exciting stuff! ^_^

So it turns out the tuition rise is again going to be huge, somewhere between 5.5% and 6%, which translates to almost $3,000. They justify that by saying every other college is raising their prices, and by talking about the better service we're getting: more faculty, departments, student space. Uh, it may just be me, but I thought we had issues with the school cutting faculty, shutting down programs and closing our main building and the Lang basement? Hmm. Also, enrollment is increasing, so that means bigger class sizes and less space per student. I waited to ask questions to see what other people would ask, but it was mostly just administrative department chairs suggesting they get more money.

So yeah, my first question was friendly : I joked that I couldn't ask for more services without them raising tuition, or for lower tuition without them cutting stuff. So I brought up the issue of budget disclosure, and of the possibility of disclosing exactly how much everything costs, how we get our money, what it's spent on. Now, you know where I'm going with this, but I phrased it in a 'concerned student' sort of way. I also brought up the fact that this meeting was suspiciously scheduled during Spring Break, when no students are around.

Predictably, Murtha completely dodged the question, talking instead about building hours (which was an example I'd used). His answer ran along the lines of 'tell us what you want, and we might give it to you'. Basically, that's a no - that information is staying private. The New School has some secrets, it seems. The Vice Presidents also claimed that they had had no idea this was spring break. Uhm, how out of touch do you have to be with your University to not notice there are no students around?

My next question made things awkward. I established that what a school spends/gets its money on defines the character of the University, and explained that recently we have been engaging in military research contracts and sponsoring Neoliberal think tanks (such as the India China Institute and Center for Economic Policy Analysis). I pointed out the correlation between this, and the fact that a lot of the Board of Trustees' budget committee are either War Profiteers or subscribers to the pro-US imperialism Council on Foreign Relations. I asked how much control these people actually had.

Vice President Jim Murtha: "I...uh...uh... That's not a budget question! I guess if you want me to comment... I don't have a comment!"
Rest of the Room: *Awkward Silence for 3 Minutes*

Okay. So who controls our budget isn't a budget issue? I don't think I can comment. His logic seems just a little flawed..

Kate then asked a more useful question, about the policy of charging students to keep buildings open outside of regular hours, which swallows up a lot of Lang Student Union money. Two suits had a back and forth, and then agreed to cut this policy out starting next year and allow students to use University space for free. Word! So yeah, the meeting was at least a little bit productive.