CSPA school plans to survive
despite crippling budget cuts
By Debbie Howleti
Otttim Emmrmtd
Founded in times of
financial plenty,
"suspended” in times of
financial strain, the
University's School of
Community Service and
Public Affairs still plans to
continue teaching
"marketable" service skills.
"The school was originally
set up to provide a degree
that is marketable in a range
of community service
occupations." says Ken
Tollenaar, acting dean of
CSPA "It remains an
important objective at this
point.”
During the final week of
winter term, University
Provost Richard Hill, a
former dean of CSPA,
announced that the school
would be suspended, the
dean's office eliminated, and
the programs within the
school merged with other
campus programs The cut
was the first to essentially
eliminate a professional
school since the
administration warned that
those kinds of cuts were
impending
Tollenaar says the school
has already “taken its share
of lumps. ' and that the
University is losing an
outstanding "applied social
science” program
"We are highly
vocationally oriented,"
Tollenaar says, adding that
the school has made it a
point to work with the
community through
internships and practicum
programs
"We expect our graduates
to walk out and get entry
level, or middle management
jobs — I don't see that as
changing." Tollenaar says
What will change, by July
1, is the administrative
arrangement of the school
The community service
curriculum is merging with
programs in the School of
Health, Physical Education
and Recreation, while the
public affairs section will
move into the department of
urban and regional
planning
Norm Sundberg, a
psychology professor and
the first dean of CSPA,
agrees with Tollenaar that
the University is retaining
the substance within the
school.
"I'm very disappointed as
most people are and I hope
that it will be restored,"
Sundberg says However, he
adds that the restoration is
probably a distant hope and
Ken Tollenaar
Photo by Bob Baker
that for the time being a
departmental CSPA is better
than no CSPA at all.
Nostalgia enters
Sundberg's voice when he
talks about the first years of
CSPA He jokes and says he
is the “founding dean."
Almost immediately
Sundberg offers past
University Pres Art
Flemming as the major
impetus for a professional
school in CSPA
The school officially
opened in 1967, Sundberg
says. "There was quite a bit
of enthusiasm at the time; in
fact, I think it's been pretty
well received all along ."
The school started with a
$1.5 million grant from Lila
Wallace, one of the founders
of Reader s Digest and an
alumnus of the University
The state supplied about
half of the funds for the first
five years while Wallace's
grant supplied the other half
In the early 1970s the
University took complete
responsibility for the school
But, for the first five years,
according to Sundberg,
there was substantial
expansion of the program
"The University in general
was quite well supported by
the state then,” Sundberg
says. "The whole University
was expanding in the late
60s and early ’70s.”
But the funding feast of
the 1960s gave way to the
financial famine of the
1980s The school was
beginning to feel the effect
of a starved budget as early
as 1977 when the University
lopped off $300,000 from its
budget, nearly half of the
previous year’s funding.
During a discussion of
present budget cuts, Carl
Hosticka, an assistant CSPA
professor, said that the cut
in 1977 took 50 percent of
the school's funds and
improved the school’s
capabilites 100 percent. But
Hosticka also said that cuts
now would not have such an
effect, and that they could
only be devastating.
Tollenaar is quick to point
out that the programs won't
revel in a passive role
Earlier this month, Tollenaar
defined the suspension as a
cut of administration only.
The shuffle of curricula will
still allow a degree in
community service or public
affairs, said Tollenaar.
Facts and figures for CSPA
Faculty FTE* Degrees Credits
1967- 68 11.4 3,982
1968- 69 16.6 4 15,984
1971-72 23.4 121 13,394
1975-76 25.0 135 18,395
1980-81 15.8 115 12,735
* Full-time equivalent, used as a measure of the number of faculty positions within the University.
Source: "The Wallace School of CSPA: A Briefing Paper" CSPA Ad Hoc Committee
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