GREG WALKER & ERIC KAMMERUD
Staff Writers
When the Auburn Board of Trustees meets today to decide whether to offer University president William Muse a job security contract, he will already have the support of seven board members.
At M onday night's reception for Muse and wife Marlene, several members of the Board of Trustees indicated they would support a job security plan and hoped it would sway Muse to stay at Auburn. Those trustees included Jack Venable, John Denson, Charles Glover, Bessie Holloway, Phil Richardson, Albert McDonald and Emory Cunningham, who was not present but sent his support by way of Denson.
"I'm in favor of a multi-year contract," Denson said. "The Board needs to look at Muse's pay and benefits and revisit tha t issue. Maybe he will withdraw from Minnesota."
Muse announced Nov. 16 he had been selected as one of three finalists for the president's job at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, a three-school university system with an enrollment of 66,00 0 and $1.6 billion budget.
Muse has been president since 1992 and has worked without a job contract during that time. But considering the offer he has received and the state of higher education in Alabama, Venable said he thinks it's time for a contract .
"We give our football coach a contract and our athletic director a contract, why not our president?" Venable said. "Admittedly we have to be careful when creating the contract, but I think it can be done."
The contract comes after Muse received the offer and told the Associated Press he would like to have a guarantee he will be here five more years so he can enter the retirement system.
The contract will be presented today.
Muse has fought for higher education in Alabama during his time at Aubur n and has faced opposition from Gov. Fob James and members of the legislature. Higher education has seemingly been overlooked by the legislature and perhaps Muse's opportunity at Minnesota has opened the eyes of the governor.
"The fact that the governor has called this meeting and is going to be there may be a significant signal," Auburn Athletic Director David Housel said. "It's too early to tell if this will have any affect on funding for Auburn."
"If this has accomplished the governor looking at hi gher education, then that's a step," Venable said.
Muse said he is sympathetic to the plight the governor has been going through, but Auburn has its work cut out for it.
"The kinds of problems Auburn and the state faces aren't going to go away and the y aren't going to be easily solved," Muse said. "If I stay, these will be issues I will deal with in the foreseeable future."
Muse said he is supposed to interview with the Board of Regents at Minnesota Dec. 10 and 11 and a decision is expected to be re ached by Dec. 13.
Muse said he is eager to hear what the trustees have planned today.
"I'm looking forward to talking with the trustees and considering what they have to offer me. I'm grateful for their willingness to sit down and talk with me about t his."
Ñ Photo by Scott Godwin. Photo illustration by Greg Walker.
 |  |  |
| CHARLES GLOVER | BESSIE HOLLOWAY | JACK VENABLE |
|---|---|---|
| "Five years suits me fine." | "I would like to see Dr. Muse stay on and work on the goals he has set." | "I've said all along Auburn is bigger than Bill Muse or even Terry Bowden. We're going to be here and I hope it is with Bill Muse and not without him." |
TAMARA MOSER
Assistant State/Local Editor
With the budget cuts our country has enforced and the many that are to come, people are fighting for money for their organizations. Public schools are included in these groups. Every year, st ate legislators face the task of stretching education funds between grades K-12 and two- and four-year colleges without jeopardizing the institutes.
Since 1990, legislators have granted increased funding to grades K-12 and left higher education with le vel funding and, in 1994, a 7.5 percent decrease.
Henry Hector, head of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, said, "What we have is a Special Education trust fund that limits the dollars that go toward K-12 and higher education."
"The state is faced with dividing it, and the legislature thought there was a higher crisis in K-12, thus less money for higher education," Hector said.
Many legislators were upset that there are so many two and four-year colleges in the state with duplicated and weak programs that do not produce many graduates, thus less funding.
"We have set standards for institutions forcing them to cut programs that do not have 7.5 graduates per year for five straight years in four-year colleges and three in two-year colle ges," Hector said.
"They have to meet these standards within the next three years or the programs will be phased out," he said.
The money produced by these cuts will be relocated to make other programs stronger, Hector said.
This year there was $3.4 billion in the special education trust fund and higher education was level funded with $905 million. The rest went to K-12.
"They can't budget like that forever because we will see a crisis in higher education in the next five years," Hector said. "I think we will see an increase this next session. We are expecting there to be $175-$200 million more because of projected tax increases."
Auburn has definitely felt the effects of the budget cuts and level funding.
University President Muse sai d, "Two years ago the university's appropriation was reduced by 7.5 percent which is equivalent to $13.5 million."
Auburn adjusted to this cut by reducing expenditures and increasing tuition, he said.
"We raised tuition by $3 million which left anot her $10.5 million," Muse said. "We decreased expenditures by starting a retirement incentive program. About 220 employees retired and we left those positions vacant to decrease payroll costs. We have also frozen positions that were vacated because people left for other jobs."
The privatization of the student health center was also an attempt to overcome the cut.
Unfortunately programs have still been hurt by the lack of money. The vet school lost its accreditation because it couldn't keep upgradin g to the level of technology it needed.
The faculty has been deprived of salary increases because of the lack of funds. To try to make up for this, Auburn took 2 percent of the tuition increase and 1 percent from vacated positions in order to give the faculty a raise, he said.
"Auburn employees and faculty have been working very hard over the past two years through the budget problems, and all we have been able to give them is a 3 percent raise," Muse said.
He said he is hopeful the governor and the legislature will approve an increase for higher education. Alabama colleges have requested a $62 million, or 8 percent, increase, he said.
"This past year the governor wanted another 4-5 percent decrease, but we ended up with level funding," Muse said. "Alabama is the only state in the South that has reduced appropriations for higher education."
James Kamensky, head of the department of educational foundations, leadership and technologies, said, "I would definitely not have a shortage of things to say, but I do not have the freedom to comment because there are direct implications involved that could affect the dean and the college."
Hector said the commission will be recommending an increase in funding, but it doesn't know what the governor' s budget plan is going to be.
Gov. James was not available for comment, but Alfred Sawyer, director of governor communications, said, "The budgets have not been put together yet, so we have no idea what money will go towards higher education."
Muse said, "It's been extremely difficult for the university to operate at a level of quality that we want and what the students deserve."
