Cautious welcome for Arts offer
	Protesters gather at Union Court during Open Day demonstrating over proposed cuts
By Damon Shorter and Shelly Simonds The Vice-Chancellor Deane Terrell last week promised "additional support" to the Faculty of Arts on the condition that it stays within its budget next year, as protests over proposed cuts escalated to strikes across campus. The move was welcomed by some staff, including the Dean of Arts, but union representatives said more detail was needed. Providing the Faculty can balance its budget by 1998, the Vice-Chancellor said he will endeavour to find ways to ease the debt it brought into 1997 and extend the period for Arts to meet its adjustment costs. "The offer shows some of our points are getting across to the VC, but anyone who says 'we've won' is obviously a fool," said Professor Iain Wright from the English Department. Staff and students picketed the university for two days last week protesting against recommendations to cut more than 30 staff from the Faculty. Professor Richard Campbell, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Chair of the Board of the Faculties, said staff cuts are unavoidable for the Faculty, which is expected to have a cumulative deficit of more than $3 million by the end of 1997. The Faculty of Arts' operating budget this year is about $10 million compared to the ANU's total budget of some $266 million. Prof Terrell told the ANU Reporter that the university had already written off half of the $1.5 million deficit which the Faculty of Arts had at the beginning of 1997. However heads of departments in the Faculty are disputing the deficit. They say the ANU has made adjustments to the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA) formulas for distributing funds generated by student fees. Many academics say this has disadvantaged Arts, which presently receives 23 per cent of student-based income instead of the 25 per cent to which they claim the Faculty is entitled. "The administration has used 'crude, unexplained and inexplicable financial logic' to arrive at the figures," Prof Wright said. "We are questioning the assumptions and values on which these statistics are based," said Dr Chris Gregory of Archaeology and Anthropology. "We're arguing there is a lack of transparency in the system. If these deviations had not worked against us we would have a surplus today." Prof Wright said the 2 percentage point difference would be worth about $700,000 to the Faculty, and if backdated, would wipe out the Faculty's entire debt. "An organisation of the size of ANU should be able to get a deficit of this size under control without damaging the university through sacking permanent staff." "We are now trying to help the Faculty to adjust to its current financial position, and to restore momentum and morale, through this compact," Prof Terrell said. He stressed that no decisions had been taken about staffing or programs, and these were best made by the Faculty.The compact would enable the Dean and his staff to review the way in which they might adjust while maintaining academic goals. "This is not about winners and losers in some competition between the Chancelry and the Faculty," Professor Terrell said. "It is about ensuring a strong and vibrant Faculty of Arts which is free of debt." The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr Larry Saha, welcomed the VC's proposal saying he hoped it would provide an opportunity to resolve the funding deadlock. He emphasised the continued excellence of research and teaching in the Faculty, and said that interest in Arts from prospective students during Open Day had been "better than ever". Dr Saha said the Faculty had been adjusting to its financial position for some time and had cut 18 academic posts between 1985 and 1997. Prof Wright said the Faculty had not been given enough information in advance about its growing deficit. "We're saying, give us a bit of warning. Don't just hit us all of a sudden with these figures and we'll see what we can do. I think the VC understands that now." "Part of the problem is that it is not clear exactly what the deficit should be or how it was incurred," said Mr Robert Barnes, head of the Classics Department. "One of the most distressing aspects of the restructuring proposal is that it makes no comment on the academic or scholarly value of the subjects they are cutting. This is surely critical for any serious university." Dr Doug Kelly, ACT President of the National Tertiary Education Union, welcomed the Vice-Chancellor's offer as a step forward but remained "gravely concerned" that departments such as Classics would continue to be cut in favour of other more profitable programs. He said throughout its negotiations the Chancelry had failed to communicate any sort of "long-term vision". Students' Association president, Matt Tinning, criticised the Chancelry for not communicating how the proposed cuts to Arts would impact on students. "They just haven't told us what to expect and this has contributed to the hysteria that we're now seeing," he said. Dr Saha emphasised that staff were consulting closely with undergraduate and postgraduate student groups to ensure that their needs were catered for and to assure them that their studies would not be affected. "Obviously, their priorities come first andthey have been supportive of the Faculty," he said. The Faculty has been given to the end of October to present Chancelry with a restructuring plan.