The Observer, February 24, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 18
Budget deficit puts plans to move to Halle Building on hold
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The scheduled move of 325 Case employees into the Halle Building in downtown Cleveland has been postponed until further notice. Employees from the university relations staff, the accounts payable and purchasing offices, as well as some information technology staff were expected to move into the building.
As one of Cleveland's oldest landmark buildings, the Halle Building is located at 1228 Euclid Avenue. Two years ago, Case signed an agreement with Forest City Enterprises Inc. to lease 80,000 square feet of office space in the building. The total office space would occupy three floors of the 392,000 square foot building.
Last year, Case faced a $37 million deficit and reported a $17 million cut from its operating budget starting Oct. 1, 2005. The projected budget was partly attributed to a decline in the university's research revenue, federal funding, and charitable giving.
Since the moving plans were made well before the reported operating budget, current plans involve adjusting what is needed with what is available.
"Because of the environmental changes in our space requirements and our plans to realign our spending with our budgets, we decided to put a temporary hold to assess our options. That is precisely what we are currently doing," Hossein Sadid, Case's chief financial officer said.
Though further changes may be made on campus to accommodate the operating budget in the future, there are no changes in the development of the West Quad and the planned enhancement of Case security as of yet, according to Sadid.
However, the operating budget has come under local scrutiny by television station WKYC. The news station broadcast a piece on the evening news on Thursday, Feb. 9 regarding the changes due to the budget constraints and President Edward Hundert's leadership.
The report covered issues about Case and University Circle security, the Halle Building move, and tuition increases. The segment then transitioned into issues with Hundert's style and management techniques and the disapproval that was expressed towards him.
The link to the news segment was not included in Case Daily, the newly launched daily e-mail featuring news about Case. The subject matter covered in the piece along with the absence of its mention in Case Daily prompted the senior class officers to take matters into their own hands. The class officers sent out an e-mail containing a link to the news report to all Case seniors.
"We sent out the email because we felt that Case was misrepresented in the coverage and was not entirely accurate. We were also confused as to why there was no mention of it on Case Daily," Pavan Thangudu, senior class vice president said. "The primary reason we sent it out was because we wanted students to be aware of how the surrounding community views Case."
The planning of the budget to fit the needs of the university is a continual process that may warrant unpredictable changes in the future.
