Money reallocated to RCAF, dispersal planned
By Sarah Chacko
Staff Reporter

Faculty Senate Executive Committee members reported to the Faculty Senate that $8,000 has been reallocated into faculty grants after protesting a grant funding cut by Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs William Koehler.

Nadia Lahutsky, Executive Committee chairwoman-elect, said the upset came after the current faculty did not receive the first call for grant proposals. Later it was believed that grant funds had been earmarked for new faculty only, she said.

Peggy Watson, chairwoman of the Executive Committee, said faculty members were concerned budget cuts to the Research and Creative Activities Funds were too much, since faculty are required to do research for tenure. For awhile it was thought that all RCAF money was eliminated, she said.

After discussing the situation with Koehler, both misconceptions were corrected, more money was found and advice on fund distribution was given, Watson said.

Larry Adams, associate provost for Academic Affairs, said the initial fund before cuts was a little more than $100,000. He said the final amount that faculty ended up with was about $82,000.

“Based on past year’s funding patterns, we will, in all probability, be able to meet the request of every meritorious proposal,” Adams said.

Watson said $3,000 was taken from Faculty Senate funds that they do not spend. Koehler said $5,000 came from a “discretionary account,” a part of the operating budget that is not dedicated to any specific entity but can be used for institutional purposes. Adams said an additional $2,000 came from general budget funds.

The Executive Committee and Koehler recommended in a report to Faculty Senate that faculty grants be given for new faculty first, then untenured faculty and, finally, to tenured faculty. They also recommended capping funds at $2,500 for each grant, compared with last year’s $3,000, to offer the money to more faculty, Watson said.

The report also said the call for faculty to turn in grant proposals, which used to go to current faculty first in the spring and then again in the fall for new faculty, will go out for all faculty in the early fall.

Koehler said the purpose of the grants is to support new faculty and help them start research. The grants also provide funding for faculty in disciplines that routinely do not have access to external grants, such as humanities and the fine arts, he said.

Joseph Bobich, a tenured chemistry professor, said the humanities rely more on faculty grants because the sciences has more outside sources to turn to. Regardless, anybody who only has TCU support is significantly effected by these changes, he said.

Linda Hughes, a tenured English professor, said faculty grant cuts could have serious implications for tenure, making it more challenging for professors to achieve such status. Of the three duties tenure is based on — teaching, research and service — teaching and research are particularly important, she said.

An untenured humanities instructor, who prefers to remain confidential, said the RCAF were instrumental in her research and publications for providing access to hard-to-find resources.

“The RCAF brings to the attention of the world rare books and letters which would otherwise languish in libraries,” she said.

While she admires the faculty’s course of action in petitioning the cuts, she said, administrators may look at the grants as expendable without realizing their importance to professors. TCU invests into the football team as a way to earn recognition with prospective students, she said. Similarly, published works in her field bearing the TCU name are put in the academic limelight.

Watson said additional university money for international travel, aside from departmental grants, has also been withdrawn under the grant proposal. No money has been allotted for invited departmental lecturers either.

“We had to prioritize,” Watson said. “Some areas were just less important than money for instructional development and research. I think faculty understand that.”

Koehler said it is the institution’s obligation to provide internal funding. Faculty who do research bring excitement and perception into the classroom, he said. Faculty research is essentially continued learning and modeling for TCU graduates, he said.

“One thing we try to instill in undergraduates, whether in their personal or professional lives, is that they must continue to learn,” Koehler said.

Sarah Chacko