Waterloo: University of Waterloo’s Finances

Waterloo, March 26, 2009(Daily Bulletin): University of Waterloo’s (UW) President David Johnston and provost Dr. Amit Chakma will comment on the University’s financial situation, and answer questions, at a “Town Hall” meeting to be held April 8, aimed at staff and faculty members.

The event will come the day after the spring meeting of UW’s Board of Governors, which is expected to approve the 2009-10 operating budget and a 3 per cent cut in most spending. The budget was drafted with a further cut of 5 per cent in mind for the following year, Dr. Chakma told UW’s senate as it discussed the budget on Monday of this week.

“We have a difficult task ahead of us,” Dr. Chakma told the senate, although “Waterloo is going into this period in a relatively advantageous position,” relative to other universities.

We’ll know more about one aspect of the university’s finances a few hours from now, if the Ontario spring budget, to be presented this afternoon by Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, says anything definite about college and university grants for the year ahead. Dr. Chakma’s budget is built on the assumption that there will be no new money, but no actual cuts to the current level of grants.

As Johnston told the senate at Monday’s meeting, universities are under pressure from multiple directions. Enrolment growth has been “nearly double” what was expected; endowments and pension funds have dropped; costs keep going up at around 5 per cent a year. A recent report from the Council of Ontario Universities says the 19 institutions across the province have a total cumulative deficit of $511 million.

How does UW respond? Dr. Chakma called it a three-part program: expenditure control (being “even more conservative in filling positions” and starting projects); expenditure reduction (the 3 per cent cut); and revenue generation (new sources of income, such as full-fee programs and more international students).

One example of the austerity UW will see in the coming year: the rollover project, designed to replace out-of-date computing equipment in academic support areas, won’t get the $200,000 that would have been budgeted for this year. “That is not, at this stage, mission-critical.”

Said, Dr. Chakma: “We believe that we can manage without any layoffs, but I cannot guarantee it. . . . Lying off people is the last thing you want to do in dealing with this kind of crisis. We don’t want to lose people and wonder what happened, four or five years down the road.”

The 2009-10 budgets, as approved by the senate finance committee earlier this month, involve spending of about $435 million in the twelve months that begin May 1. That’s up from $405 million in the current year — the 3 per cent cut to departmental budgets is more than outweighed by spending increases elsewhere, including money for salary increases and new activities as the university grows.

But that new spending is narrowly targeted, Dr. Chakma reminded the senate. “Apart from an investment in the library and an investment in student support,” he said, “we are really not making any increases.”

The town hall meeting, 13 days from now, will give an opportunity for more discussion of budget prospects and the university’s position in hard times. It’s scheduled to run from 3:00 to 4:30 on Wednesday the 8th, in the Humanities Theatre.

As with the last such meeting, held in November, staff and faculty are invited to submit their questions ahead of time by e-mail, to keep the meeting moving along and to make sure the meaty issues get raised. Questions should be sent to: townhall@ uwaterloo.ca by April 2.

I’ve been asked to help by collecting the questions that are submitted, screening out anything irrelevant (so please keep the topic to UW and its affairs), combining related questions, and arranging the questions in priority order. There’s no guarantee that every question will get asked publicly, but we’ll try, and if there are too many questions for the available time, I’ll ask the top executives to provide answers through the Daily Bulletin over the days that follow.

Sources: http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca

Meghalaya: President Rule

Shillong, March 28, 2009 (UJI): The Centre decided to impose President’s rule in Meghalaya on 18th March last and place the Assembly in suspended animation.

Speaker Bindo Lanong confirmed being told the Assembly would be in suspended animation, a parliamentary practice under which the House is kept alive but its activities suspended. This will allow the governor to give the majority group time to form a new government.

Governor R.S. Mooshahary sent a report to the Centre last night recommending President’s rule on the grounds of a constitutional breakdown. The Union cabinet acted on the advice. However, President Pratibha Patil has yet to give her assent to the cabinet decision.

The ruling Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) had won a confidence vote with the help of the Speaker’s casting vote, but the governor told the Centre this could not be accepted because of the “unconstitutional” suspension of five members. Before the trust vote, the Speaker had disqualified five MLAs who had deserted the ruling alliance.

With the House in suspended animation, the Congress claimed it had the majority with 32 votes and hoped it would be able to form the government. In the trust vote, each side had got 27 votes. Before staking claim, the Congress is waiting for the Gauhati High Court order on the petition of four MLAs who have challenged their disqualification.

The state government has decided to write to President against the recommendation to impose President’s rule. It is also planning to move the Supreme Court.

Tripura: IPFT demand Separate State

Pechartal, March 28, 2009(UJI): A tribal based political party named Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), demanded the creation of a separate state carved out of Tripura on 7th March 2009, a move seen as an attempt to whip up emotions ahead of parliamentary elections.

Their demand is that the existing Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas should be given the status of a Separate State for the one million indigenous tribal people of Tripura, Mr. Narendra Chandra Debbarma, president of the IPFT reported.

The influx of Bangladeshis, mostly Hindus and Muslim into the TTAADC areas has been on but all the major political parties are ignoring the problem of changing demographic pattern of the tribal dominated region, Mr. Rabindra Kishore Debbarma, General Secretary of the IPFT told reporter.

The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Congress and other political parties have opposed their demand. The demand for a “Separate State” ahead of the Lok Sabha election is nothing but only to create communal tension said CPI-M spokesman Gautam Das. Congress spokesman Tapas Dey also said: The demand for a Separate State will create communal tension in the state where a third of 3.5 million populations are tribal.

Mizoram: Mizo Opposition selected for LS polls

Aizawl, Mar 28, 2009 (UJI & UNI): On 25th March an electoral alliance of two Opposition parties in Mizoram--Mizo National Front (MNF) and Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) declared former Lok Sabha member Dr. H. Lallungmuana as its candidate for the forthcoming lone Lok Sabha elections.

The alliance has also decided to field former MLA, Mr. K. Lalsanga as its candidate for the South Tuipui by-election which will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. Announcing the candidates, MPC vice-president Col. (Rtd.) Lalchungnunga Sailo said that after careful deliberation between the two parties they came out with the former MP as their alliance candidate for the Lok Sabha polls.

Dr. H. Lallungmuana does not belong to any party, and given his experience in the Parliament, he is the perfect choice to represent the entire population of Mizoram, Col. Sailo told reporter. Earlier, the alliance had invited TV journalist Mr. R K. Lianzuala to be its candidate but later the alliance changed their choice.

The President of MNF and former Chief Minister Mr. Zoramthanga also present when the candidate named is announcing. He further told that ''as the national politics is taking a new shape, it is too early to decide who our MP will support if he gets elected. But, I would like to make it very clear that he will not support the UPA”.

Dr. H. Lallungmuana will contest the lone MP seat of Mizoram against Mr. C. L. Ruala (INC). Dr. Lallungmuana elected in the twelfth Lok Sabha election which lasted for thirteen months only with the support of now defunct “Citizens Common Front” on independent ticket and beat Congress candidate Mr. J. Lalsangzuala with a margin of 41 votes.

The alliance candidate Dr. Lallungmuana strongly advocated all Regional Parties in the State for the development of the region. The Centre has also begun to experience the rising of regional parties not only in Mizoram, but also other major provinces. The national parties pose threat to our identities and cultures.