Monday, March 2, 2009
Budget Cuts Endanger WMOT Jazz 89: Will Sax Get the Ax?
Posted by Jim Ridley on Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 4:05 PM
After considerable discussion, it was the feeling of the subcommittee that the station, though a valuable asset, is very limited in its contribution to the core mission. Only a small number of students are trained at the facility, and that role is currently duplicated by the university's student‐run radio station. A review of the budget shows the station is only able to generate a small percentage of its salary and operating costs in revenue. Elimination of the unit would result in the recovery of approximately $350,000.
Today's report outlines nearly $11 million in recommended cuts, of which WMOT is just a drop in the bucket. Other suggested measures include reductions in temporary faculty, reducing the number of adjuncts, eliminating 44 undergraduate and four graduate majors and concentrations (including jazz studies, theory and composition), ending the university's Farm Lab, and ending physics as a distinct department and degree program.
"Physics courses needed for General Education or for other priority reasons could be taught as part of the Chemistry department," the report says. Maybe you could do the same with French and Spanish.
McPhee is scheduled to give his own preliminary recommendations for the budget cuts on March 20. Final recommendations are to be presented May 1.
Comments (1)
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Why should a university support a private radio station which generates very little income, trains and employs very few students and costs the university a whopping $350,000 per year?
For that matter, how in the heck did this country get into the idea of universities supporting a huge farm-league sports team system for the professional sports leagues which generate little income (unless they're very good, which MTSU, Austin Peay, and Tennessee Tech aren't) trains and employs very few students, and costs the universities a whopping $$$$$$?
a year?
Someone else needs to buy the FCC license of this station, and start operating it as a for profit business if there's such a love for and demand for this station.
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