Marisa Murdock can’t take the underwater photography course she signed up for this semester – and it’s because she’s a student at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

SUNY-ESF announced Aug. 20 that state budget cuts of up to 10 percent forced the college to restrict its students from taking some elective courses through Syracuse University.

‘I think that they shouldn’t have done it because when I had come to this college, that was one of the things that I liked, that I could take classes over at SU,’ said Murdock, a junior studying environmental biology.

Murdock was enrolled in an underwater photography class that was removed from her schedule, she said.

‘I never got an e-mail about it or anything,’ she said. ‘I just went on Orange MySlice and saw that I got kicked out of it.’

As a junior, Murdock said she doesn’t anticipate another chance to take the course before graduation.

Only 5 percent of the SU courses ESF students can take are restricted this semester, said Bruce Bongarten, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The courses affected are CFS 388: ‘Human Sexuality,’ HPM 422: ‘Wine and Beer Appreciation’ and all dance and physical education classes.

This is the first time students’ academics have been affected by budget cuts, said James Hassett, environmental science director.

‘I’ve been here long enough – 26 years – that I’ve gone through this before,’ Hassett said. ‘It’s kind of dej vu all over again. The only difference is that this time, the cuts are deep enough that it is likely to affect some student programs.’

Hassett said in addition to the student course restrictions, SUNY-ESF departments absorbed an approximately 15 percent cut, causing them to possibly sacrifice things such as enrichment activities, lab supplies and software license renewals. In the past, maintenance has been most affected by budget cuts, he said.

Now students are worried about losing the opportunity to take other classes at SU that haven’t been restricted yet.

Felicia Culverwell, a freshman wildlife science major, said she wants to take art classes at SU and is concerned the option won’t be there in the future.

SU students can take any course at SUNY-ESF as long as it fits into the program from their home college, said Raymond Blaskiewicz, SUNY-ESF registrar. This can offset the costs for SUNY-ESF to let its students take more classes at SU, Bongarten said.

Meng Meng, a freshman biotechnology and pre-dentistry major, encourages that option but said it isn’t advertised enough. She couldn’t take karate this semester, though her Chinese language course at SU was unaffected.

One student questioned why construction is being done to SUNY-ESF campus walkways, despite the academic budget cuts.

‘Do we have to lose classes and advantages of having higher education because of it?’ said Rory Powers, a junior chemistry major. ‘Um, no.’

However, the construction was already approved ‘long before’ the state announced the budget cuts, said Claire Dunn, SUNY-ESF’s director of communications.

SUNY-ESF announced the course restrictions Aug. 20 – five days before classes started – after the state informed the administration of the budget cuts. SUNY-ESF will work harder to give its students more advance notice of any future course restrictions, Bongarten said.

President Cornelius Murphy, Jr. was not available for comment Wednesday.

rsbalton@syr.edu

Published on August 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm