University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green announced his recommendations for the more than $10 million in permanent budget reductions Friday, and for the most part, I doubt students will notice much of a difference next year.
A majority of his recommendations include eliminating staff positions which are currently vacant and finding alternative funding sources for other administrative positions.
I admittedly do not know the details behind how UNL budget items can simply be given alternative funding sources, but that’s why Chancellor Green gets paid a salary of $525,300 and I don’t.
What I do know is that no academic programs were cut and no professor positions were eliminated or forced to take a pay cut. And that is a very good thing.
A few administration positions were eliminated permanently, and while workforce reductions are never something I would advocate for, I believe administrative roles should be the first to be cut, given the circumstances.
Administration may not necessarily be ruining our universities, but they exist as a support network to ensure that students are able to make it into the classroom to be taught by faculty, and therefore, when reductions must be made, it makes sense for administrative positions to be the first to go.
There is one line item that will likely have an impact on campus for students returning next year, however, and I believe it is worth advocating for in the coming weeks before the budget is made final in June.
The current recommendations call for Love Library to close at 10 p.m. instead of 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday next year. It is a good sign that I am complaining about something so small in an article about more than $10 million in permanent reductions, but it could have a profound impact on student academic success.
Apart from two nights during finals week last December, I have never been in the library past 10 p.m., but the late-night library experience is one I highly recommend for everyone at least once in their college experience. The sense of academic desperation is not exactly fun, but it is a vibe.
However, I can understand why the university might have targeted reducing the library’s hours as a way to save money. I cannot say for sure how many people go to the library late at night on a random Tuesday in February, but that’s only because I haven’t been myself.
I am thankful to have a house with my own room and roommates who don’t throw parties every weeknight, but for some students, Love Library could be one of the only quiet places to get work done after 10 p.m.
The natural solution is to encourage students to simply get their work done before 10 p.m., but the reality of 11:59 p.m. deadlines coupled with human nature ensures that the procrastination of college students is not going away just because the library reduces its hours.
Instead, it would be best if the library would at least stay open until midnight Sunday through Thursday, ensuring all students have at least one quiet place to get work done, regardless of what their home life is like. If education is supposed to be the great equalizer, ensuring a place on campus where anyone can study at any time of the day is a good priority for a university to have.
Ultimately, the reduced library hours would only save the university $114,640 due to the decreased need for library student workers and community service officers. That may seem like a lot of money, but in the larger context of the $10.8 million in permanent budget cuts, it is just over 1% of the needed cuts.
I am thankful to be complaining about library hours I never even used during my time at UNL instead of fighting to save an academic program, and I believe that Ronnie Green and the Academic Planning Committee have done a good job with their initial recommendations.
However, I hope they can see the value in late nights at Love Library in helping the university’s mission as the primary intellectual and cultural resource for the state.
If Taco Bell can stay open until 1 a.m., surely the library at the state’s land-grant university can too.
Brian Beach is a senior journalism major. Reach him at brianbeach@dailynebraskan.com.