President Ribeau has said that budget cuts will not interfere with instruction at the university, but the $2 million cut in state funds is bound to have an impact on operations. In this case, a short supply of a special light bulb made PowerPoint and visual presentations ineffective for four weeks of classroom lectures.
While giving a recent lecture for a weather and climate class in Olscamp 115, Professor Arthur Samel tried to use the video projector for visual aides, but a dimming projector lamp made the slides difficult to read. Samel reported the problem to Instructional Media Services, but a couple of weeks went by and the bulb has not been replaced.
“Obviously, the bulb was experiencing a slow and painful death, because the dimming gradually worsened,” Samel said. He then checked back with IMS about the delay in fixing the problem. In response, Samel received an e-mail from an IMS employee stating, “We apologize for the dimming video projector bulb. Due to budget cuts we have had to go through many hoops to get this $400 lamp replaced.” He was informed the bulb had been ordered and delivery was expected within two weeks, which was not a quick solution.
By that time, the semester would be over, and Samel wondered how IMS could allow themselves to run out of a standard supply for the equipment in Olscamp. “If budget cuts are getting in the way of instruction, this is a source of concern,” Samel said.
At the same time, Samel had no complaints with IMS staff. He found they were prompt in getting back to him on his requests, and he felt they were working to fix the problem.
After IMS received the repair order, the equipment needed to be checked out to determine the actual problem. “Sometimes a loose cable can create a problem,” Julie Baker, manager of classroom technology said. Working mostly with a staff of students, they needed to have a repair crew available when the room was unoccupied, which required some time.
Once the bulb was verified as the faulty part, the department found they were out of replacement lamps. In an uncommon circumstance, three projectors had dimming lamps at the same time, and the department only had two replacements. “We were not prepared for three lamps to go out in one week,” Kevin Work, director of IMS said. The bulbs have an 18-month life, so usually two replacements are a sufficient supply to have in stock.
With the department operating under budget constraints, they followed the University guidelines on reductions and went through the usual process of having the purchase approved, rather than expediting the order. Overnight delivery would have been a quicker solution.
While it is unfortunate their supply ran out, “We would never allow budget constraints to prevent us from ordering necessary supplies. If necessary, we would borrow money from another department or from next year’s budget,” Baker said. With a low budget, “We do more with less,” she said.
Considering that budget cuts have had their impact all across campus, proactive steps such as the hiring freeze has helped the University to manage the decrease in funds. “Compared to our sister universities across the state, we are faring better than others,” Teri Sharp, director of media relations said.
Miami University recently announced a tuition increase for Ohio students to pay the same rate as out-of-state students. The increase will affect more than two-thirds of Miami’s students. Additionally, Akron, Cleveland State, Ohio University and Youngstown State have announced tuition increases ranging from 9.5 percent to 10 percent starting this summer.
Although IMS has suffered from tight constraints, they are budgeted to increase the number of video projectors in Olscamp from 91 to 104 over the next few years, Work said. The current budget is allowing room to grow.
