The Department of Art recently issued an e-mail memo to faculty and staff concerning funding for students that are employed by the department. The memo stated that the department was "about out of funds to pay student wages" and that "all students should cut their hours by 75 percent." (In a lot of cases, faculty and staff were left no option but to cut all hours of some employees).
Due to admitted poor management of the available resources, they have created an unfortunate situation for the art student body, the individual student employees, the faculty and university as a whole.
The most bothersome aspect of this situation is the fact that funding which goes to pay student wages was handled in an irresponsible way. Dean of the College of Fine Arts, Robert Kvam and the Chairperson of the Art Department, Tom Spoerner have both admitted to poor management of student wages.
I was told, in a meeting with the chairperson, that the department was "unaware" that they did not have enough funds to cover payroll this month and they "don't know" where the money has gone. This is hard to believe, considering there are ways to handle finances in a thoughtful and mature manner. There is a responsibility that goes along with maintaining a university department, and it should be taken very seriously.
The new Art and Journalism Building is a beautiful space that houses state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. But what good is a technologically advanced building without the employees to run it? A majority of these spaces are rendered useless without valuable student help, especially during weekend hours. This causes a disservice to all students; they cannot make progress on projects when they don't have access to the proper equipment. The situation has forced the already limited hours of both the Wood Shop and the Photo Crypt to further their hours down to the bare minimum. all of this comes at a particularly bad time because students have to complete final projects and senior shows, adding to the headaches of many.
Individuals employed by the Art Department also suffer. Some student employees rely on the wages they earned to purchase the needed art materials for their projects, as well as their living expenses. The inflating cost of art supplies is difficult to keep up with, and every penny earned helps alleviate the burden of that price tag.
The faculty and the whole of the university will also experience grief for irresponsible actions made by the few. If the students don't have access to the facilities, how are they to complete their projects? How are the faculty supposed to maintain a schedule not knowing if the students will be able to follow it as planned?
It seems we are all receiving mixed messages. Should we follow the examples set before us or learn from them? Hopefully we will learn from others' errors , hold ourselves accountable for our actions, and notify everyone involved when we make imprudent mistakes.
Write to Lindsey at lejilbert@bsu.edu
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