Budget Crisis Story Archives - Page 2 of 2 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WVU Alumni Rally Against Cuts, Pledge To Stop Giving

Following in the footsteps of current students, West Virginia University alumni came together in front of the university’s student union in Morgantown Saturday to rally against the proposed cuts to programs.

Logan Shamberg is a software engineer who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. He helped organize the rally and said he and alumni are done giving to the university.

“We want to educate alumni about where their money’s been going,” Shamberg said. “If WVU doesn’t have its house in order, why should alumni support it?”

Shamberg said financial pressure is a tactic to try and stop future cuts. The university Board of Governors will vote on the currently proposed cuts Friday. Shamberg believes that the board and administration will ultimately do what they want.

“But now they’re having to do it in full view,” he said. “These are people who are not used to scrutiny. We’ve got some very passionate alumni who are looking at this process. If they want to do this, they’re going to do this with the world watching, and we will be sure to announce to the world what they do. So maybe they will think twice next time they decide to try cutting whatever programs are on the chopping block next year.”

Cuts to Academic Support Units are expected to be announced next week, with program reviews set to take place at WVU’s Beckley and Keyser campuses early next year.

During the rally, third generation WVU alumnus Walt Auvil questioned why the West Virginia University Foundation he donated to wasn’t being used to bridge the university’s $45 million budget gap.

“We’re saving it for a rainy day,” he said. “The students and the professors that are affected feel like it’s raining. So if we’re not going to use it for this, what is it for?”

At the presentation of the university’s budget during the June meeting of the Board of Governors, it was outlined that the Foundation will contribute $33 million in “one-time-use resources.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, leads attendants in renditions of “Solidarity Forever” and “Country Roads” at the alumni rally in Morgantown Sept. 9, 2023.

Auvil also questioned the role of debt and bonds issued for building projects in creating the budgetary deficit.

“What is the percentage of this debt that is debt service on the bonds that were very ill advisedly floated to build buildings that we didn’t need?” he said. “And what about the bondholders? Why is there never a discussion about the people that hold the bonds, the banks, the other financial institutions that hold the bonds that we’re being held over a chopping block for? Why are they not part of the conversation about who can take a cut, can stand to take a cut?”

Many of those present at the rally said that the cuts felt personal.

“First off, many of us have spent a lot of money already here in West Virginia University, on our degree programs, as well as donors, but we also have kids,” said Carisa Collins. She holds two WVU degrees and also helped organize the rally. Collins is concerned her child won’t have access to the same opportunities she had when she attended WVU.

“This is a watershed moment in higher education, where the sorts of cuts that are occurring will take away opportunities that made going to university so important,” she said. “Getting an education at a university like West Virginia University is an extraordinary gift, you have a chance to take courses that you never even dreamed of taking.”

Collins reiterated the unique position alumni have to put financial weight behind their opposition to the proposed cuts.

“We have the opportunity to stop giving and tell the foundation, tell the board of governors in a very unique way that we are done,” she said. “We are done donating to a university whose administration is so fiscally irresponsible, that it feels like our children don’t deserve the intensity of instruction in foreign languages, in mathematics, in creative arts, design, you name it. We deserve all of it and that’s the future we were donating towards. If the university isn’t willing to support that sort of a future we are done giving.”

WVU Faculty Vote No Confidence In Gee, Freeze Academic Transformation Process

Hundreds of faculty members met to vote on the resolution of no confidence in President Gordon Gee, as well as a resolution to freeze the academic transformation process that has led to proposals to cut dozens of degrees and hundreds of faculty positions from the Morgantown campus.

With a vote of 797 to 100, the faculty of West Virginia University affirmed that they do not have confidence in President Gordon Gee’s leadership.

Hundreds of faculty members met in person in the Clay Theatre of the Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, with hundreds more from the university’s Beckley and Keyser campuses joining online. They met to vote on the resolution of no confidence in Gee, as well as a resolution to freeze the academic transformation process that has led to proposals to cut dozens of degrees and hundreds of faculty positions from the Morgantown campus. University administration plans to conduct similar program reviews and cuts at Beckley and Keyser next year.

The votes are non-binding, but librarian Jonah McAllister-Erickson says that voicing their concerns to the administration is one of the faculty’s only recourses.

“I think it says something that in a matter of days, we see hundreds, perhaps upwards of over 1000 faculty members in the middle of the day coming together to voice our collective concerns here,” McAllister-Erickson said. “That says that there’s something fundamentally wrong happening at WVU.”

Academic support units like libraries are up for their own review later this year. McAllister-Erickson said unlike academic programs, they do not have the right to appeal.

“We’ve seen several of the initial recommendations for the academic units appealed successfully and make positive changes to the proposals,” he said. “My fear is that in the end, the academic support units will be used to make up the difference between the amount of money the administration thinks they need to save, and what they have been able to cut from the academic units.”

Later in the meeting, the resolution calling for a freeze to the academic transformation process was also approved on similar margins to the vote of no confidence. The final tally was 747 for and 79 against the resolution.

Prior to the vote, Provost Maryanne Reed asked to address the assembly on the resolution. Not being a faculty member she needed to be formally recognized by the assembly, but was voted down 302 in favor to 406 opposed.

Christiaan Abildso, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, was excited by the results but understood that the decision was still in the hands of the Board of Governors. He said he felt proud to see the faculty come together.

“It stinks that it’s against something, but hopefully we keep this feeling of support for one another,” Abildso said. “Showing up every day to work is a traumatic experience right now, it’s brutal. Hopefully people stick together, support one another and get through this with without cutting and harming so many people’s lives as what has been pushed on us.”

As faculty members streamed out of the building, they were met by chants of “eight to one” from students protesting in support of the votes, a reference to the ratio of votes in favor over against the resolutions.

Jake Hough is a journalism major. He said although his program is not directly impacted, he and other students think it’s important for everyone to pay attention to what is happening.

“These professors are our family,” Hough said. “I look ahead, and we have to ask what’s next? This isn’t just a foreign language issue. This isn’t just an upper level math issue. This isn’t just a mining engineering issue. This is a campus wide issue.”

In a statement released shortly after the conclusion of the university assembly, Board of Governors Chair Taunja Willis-Miller said the board appreciated the faculty members who shared their perspectives and acknowledged the votes.

“The Board of Governors unequivocally supports the leadership of President Gee and the strategic repositioning of WVU and rejects the multiple examples of misinformation that informed these resolutions,” Willis-Miller said in the statement. “The university is transforming to better reflect the needs of today, and we must continue to act boldly. President Gee has shown time and again he is not afraid to do the difficult work required.”

The statement goes on to say the process is critical to ensure a strong future for the University.

As the faculty meeting was underway, Gov. Jim Justice held an administrative briefing. Asked if he had confidence in Gee, Justice said he did.

“Now we can say a whole lot of things about Gordon Gee, but I am telling you wholeheartedly that man is eat up with trying to do good stuff for West Virginia,” Justice said.

The university Board of Governors will meet twice next week: on Sept. 14 to hear public comment on the proposed program cuts and again Sept. 15 to vote on the proposals.

The Faculty Senate meets Monday.

WVU Releases Final Adjustments To Cuts

With the last hearings held this past Friday Sept. 1, West Virginia University has finalized its recommendations for cuts to academic programs.

With the last hearings held this past Friday, Sept. 1, West Virginia University has finalized its recommendations for cuts to academic programs. Tuesday’s announcement was the final of four covering the 19 units that chose to appeal the recommendations.

A proposal to cut the bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture was reconsidered.

In a press release, Provost Maryanne Reed said the School of Design and Community Development “made a strong case for retaining the major by demonstrating it could achieve efficiencies while addressing the needs of landscape architecture students who do not have a similar degree program to pursue here at the University.”

Efficiencies include reducing the number of faculty in the unit.

The Office of the Provost declined a proposal to develop the Master of Public Administration as an online degree and will maintain its original recommendation to discontinue the degree program and eliminate all faculty positions in the unit.

The first of the announcements Aug. 29 included an amendment to the recommendations for the World Languages Department, including retaining in-person Spanish and Chinese instruction while still closing the department.

On Friday Sept. 1 it was announced that the Department of English had successfully appealed the preliminary recommendation to discontinue the MFA in Creative Writing. The unit presented a plan to merge the MA in English with the MA in Professional Writing.

A recommendation to discontinue the Masters in Special Education was also overturned. All final recommendations can be viewed on the provost’s website.

The University Assembly meets Wednesday to vote on resolutions of no confidence in President Gordon Gee, as well as one calling for a halt of the academic transformation process.

The WVU Board of Governors will vote on the recommended cuts Sept. 15.

WVU Students May No Longer Qualify For Academic Honors Society

West Virginia University’s proposal to close its World Languages department is drawing attention from national organizations.

West Virginia University’s (WVU) proposal to close its World Languages Department is drawing attention from national organizations.

Last week, the national academic honors society Phi Beta Kappa released a statement on the school’s proposed department elimination. It is a summary of a letter that was sent to the university’s administration.

The statement expressed a grave concern with the proposal, and stated that language study is an essential component of education.

“A comprehensive arts and sciences education, which includes the study of language, fosters critical thinking, creativity, and engaged citizenship,” the statement said. “Elimination of a central pillar of the arts and sciences would unnecessarily reduce opportunities for deserving students to reap these life-long benefits.”

Founded in 1776, the society promotes a commitment to the liberal arts and sciences and counts many famous figures among its members including several U.S. Supreme Court judges.

Frederick Lawrence, national secretary and CEO of Phi Beta Kappa, said membership in the society requires students to show proficiency in a foreign language.

“As a school that represents the values of Phi Beta Kappa, that school should continue to have the opportunity for students to engage in study of an international language,” he said.

Lawrence said the society is awaiting the final results of the review and appeals process.

“We’re best to wait and let this process play out,” he said. “We wanted to be involved in that process, which is the reason that the letter that was sent and was also sent to the chapter so that the chapter on the campus could be involved in the appeals process and the reconsideration.”

Amy Gentzler, a WVU psychology professor and the university’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter secretary and treasurer, said the society’s officers are concerned that Phi Beta Kappa would not continue at the university.

“We wouldn’t be able to meet the criteria set up by national Phi Beta Kappa to have students be proficient in language,” she said. “We would essentially be forfeiting the only chapter in West Virginia.”

WVU’s chapter of the society is the only one in the state and was founded in 1910.

Language faculty at George Washington University (GWU) also released a statement last week urging WVU to reassess the proposal. In its initial announcement of the proposed cuts, WVU listed GWU as an example of a university that had removed its language requirement, a claim that the statement rejects.

The GWU faculty pointed towards requirements for students of international affairs, as well as other majors, to complete multiple semesters of language study.

The statement ends by suggesting that if students do not receive modern training at WVU they “look elsewhere for a university that truly understands and values what our current world requires of the next generation of leaders.”

Healthcare Providers Ponder Closure if Budget Impasse Results in Medicaid Payment Delays

If you are a healthcare provider in West Virginia today – a dentist, doctor, counselor, therapist – and a Medicaid patient comes into your office for treatment, you might not get paid for seeing them. Or the payment will be delayed for…well you don’t actually know how long the payment will be delayed.

This is all due to the state budget crisis.

In late April, the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services sent out 24,000 letters to healthcare providers that accept Medicaid warning them that if state lawmakers didn’t approve a budget quickly, there could be a delay in reimbursements for the cost of treating Medicaid patients.

For some providers?

“Approximately 80 percent of our revenue is Medicaid funded,” said Kathy Szafran, President and CEO of the non-profit Crittenton Services in Wheeling.

“So when you are looking at a delay in payment of 80 percent of your revenue, that’s very significant.”

Crittenton is known for its work with young women who are at-risk, pregnant or parenting. But according to their website, they make mental health services available to about 30 percent of West Virginia’s population.

Szafran said that for many of Crittenton’s patients in all of their service areas, this is their only real option for receiving care.

But if lawmakers do not approve a budget before June 30 and Crittenton doesn’t receive payments for 8 of the ten patients they serve, then “the agency will have to self-sustain itself while the revenue grows, which is very difficult,” said Szafran.

Crittenton has an endowment, but Szafran said if they burn through it, then the agency, which has been around for over 120 years, would become unstable in the long-term.

Szafran said to deal with potential funding issues, they will put a hold on hiring new staff, expanding new projects and taking on new clients. If the budget crisis continues and the payments are delayed for an extended period of time, then the agency will be forced to fire staff and close offices.

But the letter from the Bureau for Public Health doesn’t just affect non-profits.

“Nobody is there to back us up if we go under, I mean nobody cares if we go under,” said Carol Buffington, a dentist practicing in rural southern West Virginia. She said even though she is in private practice, about 50-55 percent of her clients are covered by Medicaid.

“West Virginia Dental Association wants us all to take care of the children. That has to be our first priority,” she said firmly.

More than 90 percent of the children eligible for Medicaid in West Virginia are covered by the program.

While lucky non-profits like Crittenton have endowments, private providers like Buffington will have to dip into cash reserves. For her, that’s her retirement. She said continuing to serve the children may cost her the business. Without the Medicaid payments, she could last “maybe 60-90 days.”

Buffington serves on the West Virginia Medicaid advisory board and says she knew the letter was coming. She watched the numbers of the coal and natural gas severance tax revenues dwindled over the past year and a half.

However, both Buffington and Crittenton’s Szafran wondered if the letter was “for real” or if it was just a political ploy to force legislators to reconvene and quickly pass a balanced budget. In the meantime, the clock counts down as both private and nonprofit providers wait to see what the final deal means for them.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.