Staff get creative with budget cuts
Yale may have a shortage of money, but there is no shortage of ideas on how to save.
Department heads across the University are in the midst of searching for ways to meet the 7.5 percent cuts in personnel and non-personnel spending. Some layoffs are inevitable, but most personnel reductions being made by leaving open positions vacant. Meanwhile, suggestions are pouring in about how to make the non-personnel cuts, which entail being more frugal with purchased goods and services, said Jane Lee, the director of business operations for Yale College.
Though the cuts are...
Food is certainly a big issue,at least in one certain grad school. It seems that every time there's a meeting, class or seminar, food is ordered, and 90% of the time it comes from outside vendors. Yes, I'm as guilty as the rest because I do not refuse the "free" food. It's no longer a treat -- it's expected.
Open alternatives to proprietary software, like OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, are free, convenient, easy to use, and very compatible with all standards. There is also a lot of support available with these types of software. Yale would save a lot from licensing fees.
OpenOffice is an excellent idea. Even with Yale discount s/w is very expensive.
What's sad is the number of things suggested that just aren't at all grounded in reality - like having the university retain travel reward points. It is airline policy to award frequent flyer miles to the actual person who flies, not the person who purchases the ticket. Or "getting rid of wifi". Now that the wireless routers have been purchased, they are a sunk cost. Turning off the wifi doesn't get the cost of the wireless access hardware back.
Fund only as many graduate students as there are really jobs for. From what GESO says, this would save both Yale and graduate students from poverty.
Adjusting the termostats is a no-brainer. Some of the buildings during the winter months are ridiculously overheated to the point that you are actually sweating once inside.