Existential crisis College of Humanities, reeling from class cuts, focuses on path forward - Evan Tuchinsky, Chico News and Review

The humanities college’s budget crisis dates to spring semester, when Dean Robert Knight revealed a $1.2 million deficit heading into the 2017-18 academic year. Faculty expressed surprise, for which Knight owned up in an interview Monday with the CN&R. Due primarily to “one-time money” allotments and faculty payments from elsewhere, Knight said his college had “always been able to come out in the black.” However, that balance changed under the funding system released last year. The deficit now stands at $1.8 million, pending contracts with all the lecturers. However, Knight said Provost Debra Larson, hired in March, has allocated $1 million to help the department bridge the gap. (She’s pledged the same for 2018-19.) Knight expects retirements and reimbursements to drop the deficit to under a half-million dollars—roughly 5 percent of the department’s budget. https://www.newsreview.com/chico/existential-crisis/content?oid=24896993