PAGE 12, CAMPUS CARRIER news January 28, 2010

Faculty receive pay increase after salary freeze

Chris Early
Viking Fusion Staff Writer
Berry’s financial situation continues to change with the
economy.
Beginning Jan. 1 of this year, a 1 percent pay increase
was enacted for all faculty and staff. Berry’s faculty and
staff had their salaries frozen last year.
Vice President for Finance Brian Erb said he was very
excited with the way the raise turned out.
“We were very happy to be able to offer even modest
raises in these challenging times to our faculty and staff,”
Erb said. “[They] have had significant accomplishments
this past year.”
However, Berry has the 11th lowest salary for faculty
out of its 16 peer schools. Erb said the challenging times
have had an effect on Berry’s financial outlook, specifically
in the form of 2 to 3 percent budget cuts that will go into
effect next academic year.
These cuts are necessary due to a decrease in endow-
ment revenue and an increase in funding for financial aid
and student work. These budget cuts are being enacted
primarily to relieve the tension caused by expanded costs
and 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 reserves
over the years that we were able to utilize,” Erb said.
Erb said what Berry’s administration is aiming for is
to handle the economic issues while remaining afford-
able. The Berry budget advisory committee works to help
achieve this goal. The committee is made up of faculty, staff
and students. Professor of Economics Frank Stephenson, a
member of the Berry budget advisory committee, said that
affordability is the key.
“I’m pretty sure that Berry’s tuition is lower than all of
our peer and aspirant institutions other than Berea Col-
lege,” Stephenson said. “Still, our students are generally
not wealthy, so affording Berry is not easy.”
Despite the looming cuts, outlook from faculty tends
to be mild. Stephenson, for example, said he is remaining
“neither too gloomy nor too optimistic.”
Paul Trolander, professor of English, rhetoric and writ-
ing, said he retains faith that these issues are generally
going to help in the long run.
“Berry’s not usually one of those institutions that goes
in and tells a department ‘3 percent of your salary has to go
next year, so get rid of a guy,’” Trolander said. “I just have
not 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 construction
actually makes the affordability of Berry even better.
“You’re getting a campus that is going to look great next
year for half the tuition that is paid at institutions that look
half as good,” Trolander said.
Even with the positive outlook, Berry administration is
instituting some strategies in order to handle these cuts.
Several are closing certain hiring positions, using newly-
built and freshly-updated facilities to attract summer
conferences and camps and renegotiating contracts with
vendors.

Berry print shop to close later this semester

Thomas Yungerburg
Viking Fusion Staff Writer

Candler Hobbs, Assistant Photo Editor
Freshmen Matt Stephenson and Nicky Mann and seniors Tribb Robison and Thomas Ryan work at
the Printing Press at Berry. The oldest equipment they use was purchased in 1964.
Student publications and notifications have been rolling off Berry’s very
own printing press for decades, but coming later this semester the presses
used and operated in the Moon building will be stopped permanently.
The print shop has been operating out of Berry since the 1960s. Randy
Smith, the director of printing services, has overseen its running since 1974.
Smith said throughout the shop’s history it has played different, yet important
roles 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 amounts
of fliers or banners, which are seen throughout Berry. Such banners would
include weekly printings of “The Stall Wall,” and the monthly editions of “Pot
Thoughts.”
The large cost to overhaul the print shop with modern digital equipment
was not the only deciding factor in the shop’s closing. Assistant Vice President
of Public Relations and Marketing Mathews to acknowledge the immediate
need for studio space for art majors.
Some art studios have been moved to Richards Gym as a result of a lack of
space in Moon building. The closing of the print shop will allow badly needed
space for new art studios in Moon to be used by new students, as well as those
in Richards.
Once the operation in Moon has been fully closed down, the current plan
is to open a small copy center on campus that can be utilized by students and
faculty to create banners and fliers on fewer but more modern machines.