The English department is planning for the worst as the new and dismal budget biennium begins.

Operational budgets for each academic department have not been reduced this fiscal year, but English department chair Marty Wood said it is important to plan ahead.

“The only prudent way to plan is to assume there will be cuts,” he said.

The only places the department can save are in faculty travel and supply costs, he said.

In the past, English faculty members made copies of supplemental reading material for students to keep the costs down for them.

“We can’t afford that anymore,” Wood said.

Some professors have decided to take on the extra costs themselves because the department cannot.

Assistant professor of English Bob Nowlan covers about three-fourths of the expenses for his film class, he said. The course examines several films and many are not commonly available, so it is hard to ask the students to purchase the videos, he added.

“Ideally, it would be nice (for the university to pay),” he said. But the cost is worth it, he added.

Nowlan said he tries as much as possible to help students defray the costs of his class.

“If I can make it a valuable experience and afford it, it is worthwhile,” he said.

Nowlan said he is not the only professor who covers the cost for many course materials.

Students may not notice the prices their professors pay to provide learning materials, but Wood said they will notice the reduction in staffing.

The English department currently has one vacancy in its teaching faculty. The biggest effect, however, has been in the reduction of academic staff available to the department, Wood said.

The English department lost between five and eight sections this school year and the last due to reductions in academic staff, he said. The elimination of 32 full-time faculty positions has caused the university to shift around several academic staff, leaving some departments without any.

Having academic staff serve as lecturers allows the department to offer more sections of courses, Wood said.

Bernard Duyfhuizen, interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, said giving up positions has been the biggest constraint on budget cutting. The college gave more than its share in budget reductions through vacant positions, he said.

For now, he said the English department will continue to work on cutting costs where it can while providing the best education it can.

“We’ll still put excellent faculty in front of whoever is there.”