UPDATED: Jan. 21 at 2:48 p.m.

University senators were frustrated that a budget report lacked information valuable to transparency at the first University Senate meeting of the semester.

The University Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs informs faculty on the state of Syracuse University’s financial standing and often provides recommendations to administrators and trustees, but one by one, senators trickled out of Maxwell Auditorium Wednesday night as Budget Committee Chair Dawit Negussey clicked through a budget slideshow.

The presentation showed information about the money SU saved and spent last year, plans to review the NCAA infractions and better practices for budget transparency.

What appeared on the screen were fairly digestible projections of SU’s $1.2 billion budget for 2016 and a review of last year’s savings, which came out to about $4 million. But while the presentation exhibited simplicity, it lacked explanation, senators lamented.

One senator said senators are left with few questions and little valuable discussion is had about the budget report because the budget committee does not present its work earlier.

Senate Agenda Committee Chair Can Isik suggested the committee be given a short, written report on what the budget presentation will include. Most items in the senate agenda include a summary of what will be covered, but the agenda included no details about the report.

Negussey said a summary of SU’s budget is available online, but former Budget Committee Chair Craig Dudczak said the summary lacks a breakdown of specific numbers on schools and colleges, departments and other areas of the university.

“Yes, there is information available, but to be honest most of us aren’t going to go through it to find out what’s important,” Dudczak said, adding that the committee could analyze the budget and highlight key points that faculty and staff should be aware of.

The information that’s available online is only a “small sliver” of what used to be given, said Robert Van Gulick, a philosophy professor. Van Gulick noted that some members of the budget committee had trouble getting information, and said he is curious to hear more about SU’s “transparency issue” in the committee’s second report.

In the past, SU administrators have come under fire for a lack of transparency, while senate committees and faculty groups, such as the budget committee and SU’s American Association of University Professors, have attempted to move beyond that, working to gain access to valuable university data — such as faculty salary reports.

But what occurred at the meeting was a limited look into SU’s finances that left many senators puzzled and looking for more context.

Negussey said he hopes to inform more faculty about how the university’s RCM budget model works, so they can understand it. That optimism was stunted in the report Wednesday night, as Negussey said they could only share information that was allowed to be shown to the public.

Still, with what little information the committee currently has, Bruce Carter, former chair of the Senate Agenda Committee, said senators could be given a heads up prior to the meeting about what to expect.

“I think what we lose is some of the commentary,” Carter said. “There’s a lot more depth beyond what was said today.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the amount of Syracuse University’s budget and last year’s savings was misstated. The amounts are $1.2 billion and $4 million, respectively. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on January 21, 2016 at 12:03 am

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