Vet School may not accept class

The University may not accept any Veterinary School students for next year's class if the state legislature does not restore the University's appropriation, University Budget Director Stephen Golding said Friday. Golding said the University will decide by November 1 -- probably before the state decides if it will fund the school -- whether or not to accept a new class of Vet School students for next year. Golding said the University needs to notify students by the beginning of next month because potential students need to know about the future of the school before the planned December 1 application deadline. "It's a question of communicating to potential students that the Vet School is open and operating," Golding said. "If [state legislators] choose to wait until after the election to make the decision concerning our appropriations . . .the Trustees will need to determine whether they will enter another class." University Trustees, along with President Sheldon Hackney and Provost Michael Aiken, would evaluate the financial risk of accepting another class of Vet School students, Golding said. The Vet School could refuse to accept next year's class, but, if the state appropriation to the University is restored, the school would reopen its doors to another class the year after. But Golding stressed that "we're not going to make any final decision" until the University is confident of its relationship with the state. Golding said that "conversations are going on now" between the budget officials, the Committee to Save the Vet School -- a group of representatives from the state's large agricultural community which is urging lawmakers to restore the Vet School appropriation -- and the University's lobbyist Paul Cribbins. "We have indicated to the Committee to Save the Vet School that there is support on the part of the president and provost . . . for the University to admit another Vet School class," Golding said. The state legislature placed the immediate future of the school in question this summer when it eliminated its entire state appropriation to the University, including 40 percent of the Vet School's $49 million expenditure. "The president has always said once we know what our relationship with the Commonwealth is, the University will make a decision" about whether it can afford the school, Golding said. University lobbyists and the Agricultural Committee are "telling us that they are having conversations with the legislators and that the legislature is very supportive of the Vet School," he said. But, despite the cost of subsidizing the school, the state would be actually saving money in the long run, he said. If the state fails to restore the Vet School appropriation, which includes funding for the New Bolton Center and the Veterinary Hospital, the University may be forced to shut down the entire operation. And if the state were to someday decide it needed another veterinary school to support the state's large agricultural community, it would have to begin the operation from scratch. Judging by the Vet School's $300 million physical plant -- a figure which includes the New Bolton Center and the Veterinary Hospital -- starting all over would be an expensive proposition, officials said. "They are getting a first class school for 40 cents on the dollar," Golding said. Vet School Dean Edwin Andrews said last week that he is "very optimistic" about the future of the school. In order to keep the school's doors open last year, the University ran a deficit, $16.5 million of which was directly related to Vet School operations. Golding has said in the past that it would be fiscally unwise for the University to continue running a deficit.

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