The faculty senate meeting began with much discussion over budget cuts and where priorities are placed at Baker during Tuesday’s meeting.

“It is always helpful when the committee is able to express their concerns and are able to ask questions,” Susan Emel, professor of mass media and communication, said.

The meeting opened with a Board of Trustees report from University President Pat Long. She discussed the current plans and priorities for Baker.

One of these priorities includes concerns the university has for its students and how they have been affected by the current economic crisis. If a student’s family has been affected and is facing challenges, they should go talk to officials in financial aid, Long said. The university is also looking into where money cuts can be made in various departments at Baker.

When the report was done, Long opened the floor to any questions the faculty senate may have.

A number of rebuttals were made from senate members about how cuts have already been made within their individual departments and that they have not been informed on where these cuts are being made.

In response, Long has agreed to find a way to make the budget cuts more transparent and provide more detail to allow departments the opportunity to compare the approaches in each department to one another.

In other business, the General Education Task Force discussed the positive feedback it has been receiving from students since convocation about the new general education program.

“The general education discussion was good,” Judy Smrha, assistant dean for institutional effectiveness, said. “Good points were brought up about thinking what is practical to maintain the new program’s momentum.”

However, the committee will not be able to fully implement the program in the fall of 2009 but will try to incorporate at least some aspects. The committee is still in the process of developing the new courses and is looking for a new general education director.

The senate also voted to delete the course MM262 Audio Video Production after it is taught in the spring semester and replace it with MM320 Audio Video Production in the fall of 2009.

Faculty Senate Chair Tracy Floreani said the discussions at the meeting went well.

“It is always better when we are able to talk about what is going on with things like the budget and with general education because it brings the subjects more reality,” she said.