A big issue at Guilford College currently is the looming budget cuts. Sure, cuts are inevitable at any institution, but it is important to prioritize as a college what should be deemed a necessary or unnecessary cut.
In the past, there have been scares over the Bonner Center and the Center for Continuing Education being cut. Community members have also voiced concern over the safety of the Multicultural Education Department.
As always with any round of budget cuts, people are also worried about the loss of faculty and staff members.
When considering these organizations and people, our core values of diversity, equality, stewardship and community come to mind. It is important that we keep those values at the forefront of our discussions about what to cut.
So are some of these cuts necessary? Perhaps not. This year, multiple consultants and assistants have been hired to help President Jane Fernandes run the College. It seems illogical to continue hiring new people when we can’t even afford to pay the ones already employed here.
The redesigning of the Guilford website is also cause for concern. The College unveiled the current website in 2014, and we are already spending more money on another website. While it is important that potential students can navigate the website well, is this the proper time to spend money on this?
Students also have to be as conscientious as the administration. We can all be responsible for saving the College some money by using our electricity, water and other resources responsibly.
It’s also important for the leaders of campus organizations to spend their budgets wisely. At The Guilfordian, we try to spend money responsibly on items we need. However, we can always be better at this. We want to encourage other organizations to think critically about their spending as well.
Everyone on campus will have their own opinions on the matter, and each person is entitled to that opinion. But there are some things everyone in this community should be in agreement on, including the fact that Guilford’s core values should play a role in what does and does not get cut.
