Binghamton University officials are slashing budgets in an attempt to cope with the recession, and the Discovery Program has become a victim.
The Discovery Program works to connect a student’s learning inside of the classroom with life outside the University, and is part of the department of Student and Academic Affairs. It deals with everything from helping students choose their major to providing free tutoring in a variety of subjects. While the headquarters of Discovery is in the College-in-the-Woods Library, each residence hall is given a student discovery adviser to make the help more available.
However, all of that may change, as the upcoming budget for the 2009-10 school year leaves the program in limbo.
“Their [DA’s] bed waivers have been removed for the 2009-10 year,” said Scott Bennett, assistant director of the Discovery Program. “I think the idea is they will be working more out of an office position, with hourly wages, similar to what tutors do.”
The Discovery Program is an asset to Harpur Advising, which can be challenged with the large work load of dealing with all the students on campus. According to Lishan Jackson, DA of Hinman College’s Smith Hall, placing a discovery adviser in each building made it easier for students to seek answers to their academic questions.
“The students have felt comfortable coming to us with their problems because we have been able to develop a relationship with them,” said Nina Horton, the DA of Dickinson Community’s Rafuse Hall. “They know who we are and they know that they can reach us at any hour of the day or night.”
Tutoring hours were also cut back last semester; instead of tutoring three hours a week for each student, tutors are limited to two hours. The CIW Library also curtailed its hours of operation.
The administration has been reviewing the functions of all programs on campus to decide where cuts must be made.
“I don’t know all of the details myself yet,” said Vice Provost Stephen Straight, whose own position will be phased out at the end of this year (see Page 5). “We have a thriving Discovery Program. I am a great admirer of the Discovery Program, and am glad I was here to help found it.”
Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Rose announced on Feb. 13 that the DA position would be reformatted, and scheduled a meeting between his office and the Discovery Program for today, Feb. 24, to go over the future of the program.
“Other offices across campus have not seen the budget cuts that Discovery has seen,” Horton said. “So I do not think that this cut was completely necessary.”