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Faculty protest budget cuts at Eastern Michigan University

EMU budget cut protest
Tracy Samilton
/
Michigan Radio

Faculty at Eastern Michigan University are protesting budget cuts that they say unfairly target support staff. 

Faculty union president Judith Kullberg says some departments now have no secretary.  She says EMU should instead cut administrators, or a proposed 20 million dollar athletic training center.

“For this administration, athletics is a sacred cow,” says Kullberg.

EMU spokesman Geoff Larcum says declining enrollment and stagnant state funding make cuts necessary.

He says they've been transparent about the situation.

“This includes messages to campus, this includes budget forums, this includes wide sharing of information,” he says.

Larcum says much of the cost of the athletic training center will be covered by donations.

Tracy Samilton covers energy and transportation, including the auto industry and the business response to climate change for Michigan Public. She began her career at Michigan Public as an intern, where she was promptly “bitten by the radio bug,” and never recovered.
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