By ANDRIANNA MARSTON

alm045@latech.edu

 

A statewide budget freeze has caused student organizations and the administrative staff to pull out the calculators to keep track of university funds this fall.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued an executive order Sept. 19 to put a freeze on all state government funds from Louisiana.

“The university has not been affected by the freeze, but all departments and organization heads have been advised to be careful with resources,” Jerry Drewett, vice president for administrative services, said.

The quality of instruction and all goods and services are in good shape, but Tech has to be prepared at all times, Drewett said.

“The fear that there will be a budget cut is the problem,” Drewett said. “It may not happen to us, but the speculation that it could happen is the reason we are asking everyone to be cautious of spending.”

Drewett said the funds situation is not clear, however, officials of the university expect to get more information soon.

“Baton Rouge is swamped with work, so we can only be patient until answers are provided,” Drewett said.

Jennifer Byrd, coordinator of student development, said housing has made some programming changes because of the warning.

“The resident assistants have to be a lot more creative,” Byrd said.

“Many of the [resident assistants] have pulled together to collect money from residents to continue funding residential programming.”

Lindsay Mencacci, president of the Student Government Association and a senior biology major, said she will do whatever it takes to make sure the SGA does not come across any budget problems.

“Although the SGA funds are student self-accessed fees, we still have to be cautious since we don’t know the budget for the entire university,” Mencacci said.

When the government issued the budget freeze, administration heads recommended the SGA not spend money on any unnecessary services or activities, Mencacci said.

“It was only a warning, so I had to make the decision whether or not to spend any money,” Mencacci said.

She said she did what she felt was best for the student body.

“I decided it was best to put a hold on all spending,” Mencacci said.

“This included T-shirt orders, many of the Homecoming preparations and Scantrons.”

Mencacci said she thinks the warning was a good idea so everyone can know how important the situation is.

Mencacci said, “Because there are so many unknowns, I feel that the university administration made a responsible decision.”