CVMBS takes $1.6 million cut

CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science

endured a $1,609,960 reduction in state funding for this academic

year, according to the college’s dean.

The cuts forced the college to cut 3.5 full-time faculty

positions and 22.25 staff positions, said Lance Perryman, the

college’s dean. Faculty salary raises were frozen university-wide

for this year.

“Not being able to grant pay raises certainly has an impact on

morale,” Perryman said. The dean said that was understandable since

faculty was being asked to do more work without a salary increase.

The college lost some high-quality faculty due to the budget

problems and salary freezes, Perryman said. “If this goes on for an

extended period of time even the most loyal faculty will find it

difficult to stay.”

Total state funding to CSU fell 27 percent, $34.2 million,

because of the state’s revenue problems associated with a slow

economy. Due to complex restrictions under Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill

of Rights, it will take years for the university to return to that

level of funding even if the economy improves.

Perryman said that the college did not eliminate any class

sections but students could expect larger class sizes.

Caryn Cooper, a microbiology second bachelor’s student, said she

was not aware of the budget cuts. Cooper said she felt that class

sizes were appropriate and that she had no problems with the

quality of education she was receiving.

Perryman said he had absorbed 57 percent of the cuts in the

dean’s office but the pain of cuts was fairly consistent across the

college’s departments. The College of Veterinary Medicine and

Biomedical Science consists of four departments: biomedical

science, clinical science, environmental and radiological health

science, and microbiology, immunology and pathology. Perryman said

that all four departments and the teaching hospital had noticeable

reductions in budget.

“The cuts have been painful for everyone,” Perryman said, adding

that he was proud of how his staff and faculty were handling the

situation.

The CVMBS has 565 undergraduate students and approximately 325

graduate students. The college also serves 536 members of the

professional veterinary medical program. U.S. News and World Report

ranked CSU the second best veterinary medicine school in the

country.

“Everything seems fine,” said Heidi Jones, a freshman

microbiology major. Jones said she was confident the school would

take care of the budget problems, and she said she was not worried

about the future of the college or her education.

Another victim of the college’s budget cuts was the dentistry

service at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The

dentistry service as a stand-alone program was eliminated. Students

will still get the dental training they need and clients will still

have routine dental services available, according to a dean’s

office newsletter. According to the newsletter the main loss will

be the ability to perform major dental reconstructive surgery at

the hospital.

Like other deans across the university, Perryman stressed the

importance of finding other funding options. Perryman said the

CVMBS had approximately 202 faculty members, with 132 of those

being tenured positions. So about 70 positions are funded through

grants and awards. This year the college received more than $44

million in research grants and awards, according to a university

news release.

A CVMBS October newsletter singled out Simon Turner as an

example of faculty who do not rely on state funding. Turner, a CSU

faculty member for 12 years, is fully funded by grants from

pharmaceutical and orthopedic companies. Turner pays part of the

salaries of two assistant professors and one full professor from

his industry-funded research programs, according to the

newsletter.

“I got out of the mindset that the only ‘clean money’ is

government money,” Turner said in the newsletter. “Once you break

free of that mold, you can be very creative in the research work

you do and the opportunities you are able to create for yourself

and those around you.”