OPPORTUNITY COSTS. Fencing where it isn't required and office redecoration and spiffy locker rooms don't come for free.

Administrators in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences feel they have been hit particularly hard, having not received an increase in funding as the demand for their resources increases.

The result: the college has been forced into a deficit of about $400,000, according to acting associate dean of LA&S, Bob Self.

While there have been no budget cuts to any college across campus, there have not been any increases in funding to accommodate the increase in incoming students either, said Frederick Schwantes, vice provost for Resource Planning.

Six of the LA&S majors have experienced significant growth over the past few years. These departments have been labeled as impacted departments, meaning the number of majors within the department has increased at a faster rate than the number of faculty needed to meet the demand, Self said.

Words are plentiful, deeds are precious.

As enrollment in impacted majors continues to rise, solutions are being sought to meet the demand.

"We certainly are aware and are attending to shifting and providing new faculty to those departments that have experienced large growth," Schwantes said.

Schwantes also said research is being done to determine a possible redistribution of funds from non-teaching areas, and to see if some can go to adding faculty as well as establishing a sort of savings plan.

The college is currently experiencing more retirement among faculty. Typically, these professors have higher salaries than a professor just starting out, so by replacing retiring faculty with a wave of new and younger faculty, there are some savings involved, Schwantes said.

These impacted majors and courses are being continually tracked by Resource Planning, Schwantes said, so that shifting of faculty and resources can be done as needed.

Perhaps the simplest thing for me to do is simply ignore the train-wreck that is happening in the academic programs and put up with it as best as I can for three to ten more years.

On the other hand, the last of the finalists for provost has visited campus.

"I found NIU intriguing," [Nebraska's Jay] Noren said. "In a time of budget cuts, NIU maintains progress. NIU has a positive attitude in the worst of times."

Cheer up, it could be worse. So I cheered up, and things got worse. The academic departments that are not officially enrollment-impacted are also under greater strain, and many people are close to their breaking point.

"NIU seems to be on an upward, positive trend," Noren said. "Helping NIU to achieve its potential would be an exciting challenge."

Finally, Noren was asked what he would do in his first 60 to 90 days at NIU if he received the position.

"Not say much, and listen a lot," Noren said. "If you walk into situations and think you know something, you are probably wrong. So you need to listen. If you speak, ask questions."

I repeat. What potential is that? What, exactly, is a "premier regional public?" Getting that answer right is not simply for publicity purposes.