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newsPAGe 12, CAMPUs CARRIeR JAnUARy 28, 2010

Faculty receive pay increase after salary freezeChris Early

Viking Fusion Staff Writer

Berrys nancial situation continues to change with theeconomy.

Beginning Jan. 1 of this year, a 1 percent pay increasewas enacted for all faculty and staff. Berrys faculty andstaff had their salaries frozen last year.

Vice President for Finance Brian Erb said he was veryexcited with the way the raise turned out.

We were very happy to be able to offer even modestraises in these challenging times to our faculty and staff,Erb said. [They] have had signicant accomplishmentsthis past year.

However, Berry has the 11th lowest salary for facultyout of its 16 peer schools. Erb said the challenging timeshave had an effect on Berrys nancial outlook, specicallyin the form of 2 to 3 percent budget cuts that will go intoeffect next academic year.

These cuts are necessary due to a decrease in endow -ment revenue and an increase in funding for nancial aid

and student work. These budget cuts are being enactedprimarily to relieve the tension caused by expanded costsand lowered revenue. Despite the cuts, Erb said this per-centage could have been a lot worse than 3 percent.

This percent is much smaller than most other institu-tions due to the fact that we have built up some reservesover the years that we were able to utilize, Erb said.

Erb said what Berrys administration is aiming for isto handle the economic issues while remaining afford-able. The Berry budget advisory committee works to helpachieve this goal. The committee is made up of faculty, staffand students. Professor of Economics Frank Stephenson, amember of the Berry budget advisory committee, said thataffordability is the key.

Im pretty sure that Berrys tuition is lower than all ofour peer and aspirant institutions other than Berea Col-lege, Stephenson said. Still, our students are generallynot wealthy, so affording Berry is not easy.

Despite the looming cuts, outlook from faculty tendsto be mild. Stephenson, for example, said he is remainingneither too gloomy nor too optimistic.

Paul Trolander, professor of English, rhetoric and writ-ing, said he retains faith that these issues are generallygoing to help in the long run.

Berrys not usually one of those institutions that goesin and tells a department 3 percent of your salary has to gonext year, so get rid of a guy, Trolander said. I just havenot seen that.

Though many students assume that the mass construc-tion present on campus is the cause of the budget cuts,faculty and staff disagree. Trolander said the constructionactually makes the affordability of Berry even better.

Youre getting a campus that is going to look great nextyear for half the tuition that is paid at institutions that lookhalf as good, Trolander said.

Even with the positive outlook, Berry administration isinstituting some strategies in order to handle these cuts.Several are closing certain hiring positions, using newly-

built and freshly-updated facilities to attract summerconferences and camps and renegotiating contracts withvendors.

Be pt p t ce te t eete

Assistant Photo EditorCandlEr hoBBs,

Freshmen Matt Stephenson and Nicky Mann and seniors Tribb Robison and Thomas Ryan work atthe Printing Press at Berry. The oldest equipment they use was purchased in 1964.

Thomas yungErBurgViking Fusion Staff Writer

Student publications and notications have been rolling off Berrys veryown printing press for decades, but coming later this semester the pressesused and operated in the Moon building will be stopped permanently.

The print shop has been operating out of Berry since the 1960s. RandySmith, the director of printing services, has overseen its running since 1974.Smith said throughout the shops history it has played different, yet importantroles for the school.

The printing shop functions as a hub for KCAB and other student orga -nizations across campus. It provides the means of producing large amountsof iers or banners, which are seen throughout Berry. Such banners wouldinclude weekly printings of The Stall Wall, and the monthly editions of PotThoughts.

The large cost to overhaul the print shop with modern digital equipmentwas not the only deciding factor in the shops closing. Assistant Vice Presidentof Public Relations and Marketing Mathews to acknowledge the immediateneed for studio space for art majors.

Some art studios have been moved to Richards Gym as a result of a lack ofspace in Moon building. The closing of the print shop will allow badly neededspace for new art studios in Moon to be used by new students, as well as thosein Richards.

Once the operation in Moon has been fully closed down, the current planis to open a small copy center on campus that can be utilized by students andfaculty to create banners and iers on fewer but more modern machines.