Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. § 2003-2004 MOCK VCM BtSBGBT numbers in millions School j Revenue \ E.xpen3a\n> _ / Tuition j State j Grants \ feral Arts $30.0 $20.0 $5.0 \$5G.O eering $6.0 $14.0 $10.0 mo /^9 f)<t>A Artin fi\ /^r. y PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY COREY GARRIOTT/THE GAMECOCK A mockup of the VCM budget lies on Vice President of Finance Richard Kelly’s desk. VCM GLOSSARY ‘ • ' ' ' r- ... ■■ | — — - -— -- — VCM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 reward colleges, said Elchanan Cohn, a professor of economics who studies education markets. He said colleges might have the incentive to drop unpopular but important courses, make courses easier or sensationalize them to compete for enrollments. Also, Honors College Dean Peter Sederberg said colleges might raise class sizes or hire cheaper adjunct faculty to raise the bottom line. “Our concern is that there appears within VCM an incentive for a department or es pecially a college to maximize en rollments per instructional salary,” he said. Kelly said VCM won’t stop col leges from offering important courses because students must take them for their major. “VCM is not going to affect the core courses that students need to take to graduate,” he said. University Provost Jerry Odom said the administration had to maintain good majors and good faculty or risk losing its national accreditation. And Odom said choosing elec tive courses by popularity was nothing new. “People have always tried to think about what kind of course would be a more attractive course,” he said. “I don’t see a problem with having popular courses for electives.” Critics think VCM might hin der schools that require small class sizes. “It would seem to discriminate against us or any other program that requires small classes,” Sederberg said. The music school, he said, offers expensive one-on one instruction. Associate Dean of the Music School Andrew Gowan said the school was not opposed. “VCM is really just a way to track money and to determine how much it costs to do things on campus,” Gowan said. “There may be things on this campus that aren’t self-supporting in tuition dollars but are important to the . institution.” He said the university realizes that it’s more expensive to teach music students, and VCM allows the university to judge whether the expense is worthwhile. “That’s where the word value comes from,” said Odom. “If a uni versity, and particularly the ad ministration, values its contribu tions to the educational process, then we have to make sure that the department gets the appropri ation from the state.” Critics also worry that colleges will offer courses that other col leges teach, hoping students will enroll in their version. An exam ple of this could be a course in business Spanish taught by the business school. “The faculty Senate will check this," Odom said. “Each depart ment has some say-so and can op pose the course.” Some particulars about VCM remain unclear. Vice President Kelly said VCM doesn’t allow colleges to set their own tuition, only their own ex penses — meaning they cannot charge more for a better pro gram. He said that this proposal was on the table. Right how, col leges can only manipulate their expenditures and so can only im - prove the bottom line by reduc ing costs. Also, Sederberg said it seems unlikely that the university will allow departments to perish, but VCM must threaten colleges if it is to work. He said the university would probably withdraw some state funding from colleges that win en rollments on a particular year to help but those that lose enroll ments. “You don’t want to punish entrepreneurship but, on the oth- - . er hand, it would be counter-pro ductive to give them the same sized state subsidy,” Sederberg said. But, he said, no percentage has been set. Odom said the university prob- • ably would distribute some prof its to unpopular schools that it values, but said he was uncertain about the specific plan. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudeskaEotmail.com Mars CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 magnification. According to NASA, The “penultimate affinity,” or Mars’s closest approach, will be at 5:51 a.m.. eastern daylight time Wednesday, Aug. 27,2003, when Mars will drift within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) of Earth. According to Christina Lacey of the astronomy department, Mars rises at around 11:30 p.m. or midnight. A special Mars viewing at the observatory is set for Sept. 1 and 8, when Mars “will be rising earlier in the evening, so people can bring their chil SURFYOURSELF For astronomy enthusiasts and casual observers: www.space.com dren,” said Lacey. During its approach, the red planet will be brighter than Jupiter and all the stars in the night sky, outshone only by Venus and the Moon, said Lacey. “The image is going to be about twice as big as it would be,” said John Nolan’, a third year physics major. Nolan works as an assistant in the USC physics department. The observatory is open to the public from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. or later every Monday night. The astronomy department has been open to the public Monday nights for the past 15 years. f « « Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com -1 Racquetball • Squash • Basketball • Volleyball • Cardiovascular • Strength Training • Climbing Wall • Indoor Track • Floor Hockey • Soccer • Sand Volleyball • Indoor Pool • Outdoor Pool • Whirlpool • Sauna • Group Exercise • Step Aerobics • Spinning • Step Express • Yoga • Ab Express • Water Exercise • I Intramural Sports • Softball • Tennis • f Water Polo • Outdoor Rec • Kayaking • Climbing • Hiking r STROM THURMOND Wellness & Fitness Center Blatt Physical Education. Center Hours: Mon. - Fri. 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sat. 10:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Sun. 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Strom Thurmond Fitness Wellness Center Hours:: Mon. - Fri. 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sat. 10: 00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Sun. 12:00 noon - 10:00 p.m.