Discussing Campus Changes with Chancellor Schmidt

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On Friday November 20, I went to a lunch with honors, where we met with Chancellor Jim Schmidt to discuss current and upcoming issues on campus. I found this experience to be highly beneficial and learned a lot about how the campus is run and the changes that will be taking place over the next few years. One thing that we discussed was the recent budget cuts and how they affected our campus. I learned that this past year we had to reduce our budget by 12.5 million dollars, which resulted in the loss of 179 faculty members. What I found interesting is that unlike many other schools our Chancellor decided to not make cuts equally from each department. He tried to make the cuts in a way that didn’t diminish the student experience at Eau Claire, instead he tried to look at what departments could be reduced or made more efficient, so that the students weren’t negatively impacted. I thought that this way of making budget cuts was very well thought out and in the end won’t have a large negative impact on the way our campus runs, or limit the number of opportunities students have. Additionally, we discussed the Chancellor Jim hopes to utilize this renovation to reconnect students with the river, among other things. His plan includes making an outdoor classroom where the current Putnam and KT hall parking lot is, as well as making a ledge which protrudes off the riverbank and over the river. He also mentioned putting potential fire pits on the river to be used as gathering spots. Another aspect of the renovation may include extending the bridge so that it ends closer to Schofield, and ending it will three ramps, eliminating the stairs and 90 degree turns that often cause bicycle and pedestrian collisions. These are only some of the ideas that will be implementing during the renovations and I believe that they will be very beneficial to

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