If there is one good thing that has come from the pending cuts in the state

funding as decided by the legislature it is the conversation that has

opened between the administration and students. Monday night Chancellor

Bill Snyder and Vice Chancellor Phil Scheurer spent time talking with art

students about possible cuts in their programs. Maybe they did not have cut

and dry answers but students should feel more at ease that the university

is trying to work with students.

No one is going to be happy with any sort of cuts, and the art students, in

particular, have a right to speak out. Perhaps talking now before the cuts

are actually made will prepare everyone on campus for what is to come. If

there will be more cuts in the future, students will at least have a head

start in planning around classes so that they can graduate on time.

No one has given up trying to make the situation better than it could be.

Representatives from SGA were in Nashville Tuesday and Wednesday morning

trying to talk with legislators about voting down the cuts. It may be a

futile attempt, but it is important to make the government know the

university is not going to take the cuts lying down.

The governor and the legislature should realize there will be at least

25,000 constituents not happy with education funding. That number does not

include faculty and staff and students’ families who will be affected. Only

one institution in the state, Tennessee Tech, is slated to receive an

increase in funding, and the increase is only $37 to $38 million. Knoxville

is not the only school worried about the budget cuts.