Wildeman hosts another town-hall, attendance improved
By Leanna Roy
Lance Writer
March 17, 2010
 On Tuesday Mar. 9, students and alumni filled the Ambassador Auditorium to voice their concerns to UWindsor president Alan Wildeman himself. Wildeman jump-started the meeting with a presentation which he hoped would give students a broad understanding of how the University of Windsor works around their budget to best meet the needs of the students.
“The interests of students are essential to the decisions that we make. We need to make sure that we have communication lines that are there and people know that they are there. They need to know that these issues are being dealt with,” said Wildeman.
In hopes that financial transparency would give students a better understanding of administrative decision making, Wildeman summarized the university's budget and pointed out its strengths and weaknesses.
Wildeman explained that “almost 80 per cent of the budget then goes towards supporting people,” which includes salaries, wages and employee benefits.
He further explained that the two biggest chunks of revenue are from tuition and from government grants and because tuition costs to not increase, the amount of funding provided by the government is what fuels the budget.
“Our costs are going up by four per cent but our revenue is only going up by two per cent.” Wildeman explained that “tuition increase is not in response to how University of Windsor runs in comparison to other universities, but it depends on government policy deciding what the saw off will be between how much money they give and how much they expect students to pay in tuition fees.”
Also presented in his strategic plan, Wildeman expressed that he wants to be sure administration can be held accountable for the progress being made in straightening out the kinks in the university's internal operations.
“For example if we want to know if we are practicing the highest standard of human rights and freedoms. Right away you can start to measure how many human rights complaints do we get in a year? How many students are concerned where they feel they are being discriminated against? We need to start to track that kind of information,” explained Wildeman.
After the presentation, Wildeman opened up the floor to students and alumni demanding answers. Because the meeting was designed to discuss issues broadly, many students with specific concerns were left unhappy.
Due to time constraints and the amount of people wanting to speak up, supplementary questions were denied but Wildeman invited students to speak with him informally after the meeting, after reviewing the e-mailed concerns sent beforehand.
Many graduate students wanted to know why teacher and graduate assistant positions have been cut. Wildeman explained that this problem does not have an easy fix, however, if faculties know how they are being evaluated and know what the expectations of the students are, these issues can and will be avoided.
“Planning, planning, planning,” Wildeman said. “If we do that, then we're going to set ourselves up as best as we possibly can to get the resources that are available.
The quality of the music department was another concern that Wildeman agrees is consistent with the strategic goals. “What we need to do is look very hard to find out how can we find out how to tap into a opportunity that is there,” explained Wildeman, adding that it may be a good opportunity to attract international students.
“We just all need to work together to create a better future and a greater sense of pride. I'm incredibly proud of this place,” stated Wildeman. With the release of this strategic plan, the president hopes to achieve that much.
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