Budget cuts will affect technology

Information technology on campus could take a hit from the state's recent budget cuts, and students might be asked to make up the difference with a new fee. \nIn the first round, UITS is faced with a $9.6 million cut. As the department struggled to regain control, they were hit with yet another cut, this time of $11.6 million, adding up to a total of about $20 million in budget cuts from Indiana.\nThis might have serious repercussions for UITS, which has been working to make IU's information technology one of the top programs of its kind in the country.\n"Much of what we've done at IU will come to a grinding halt if we can't recover some of these funds," UITS Spokeswoman Karen Adams said.\nIn an effort to keep IU from returning to what Adams calls "the status quo" in technology, a number of ideas have been laid out to curb the financial pain.\nOne such proposal that could have impact on students is an increased, temporary technology fee. Students already pay $100 each semester for such services as student technology centers, technology support, software and Internet and e-mail access. \nAlthough there is no concrete dollar amount attached to the fee hike, it seems to be the most definite possibility in solving UITS' financial problems.\nIU President Myles Brand stressed in a press conference Thursday that the fee would only be temporary but would still affect every student.\n"Two-thirds of the tech budget was removed in the state's cuts," Brand said. "The pain is felt by many in the University, and the students will have to absorb some of that."\nThe increased tech fee is added to the list of areas in which the students may feel the cuts.\nUITS hopes to come out of the budget cuts without laying off any staff members, but even that seems to be a possibility, Adams said.\nWhile the future of several jobs at IU might be uncertain, Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm said the University will not falter in its academic mission.\n"Our goal at the end of all this is to come out a strong, healthy, vigorous University that can contribute to the future," Brehm said.