A university group investigating ways to manage Iowa State’s budget is moving closer to making its recommendations.

After presentations last February on budget practices from other colleges and universities, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy appointed six administrators to form the Budget Model Development Committee.

The committee is working on a report to answer the 10 budget questions posed in the first report. The report is expected to be released before the end of the semester.

An open forum was held last Wednesday, which was heavily attended by many faculty and department heads.

Mark Chidister, assistant to the president, said the group’s recommendations should not be interpreted as cost-saving measures. The group is currently building a database on which it will run simulations of its recommendations.

“We’re looking for more information – and looking to avoid mistakes,” Chidister said.

He said the recommendations will not try to create competition between departments or punish departments that have been underperforming.

“Some models the committee has looked at rolling averages of previous years, which dampens peaks and valleys that departments experience,” he said.

Chidister said the changes the committee is considering should not cause internal competition.

“If you assume that the same number of research dollars and the same number of students will be at Iowa State … and won’t increase, then the units are competing for a finite pot of these things,” he said. “The committee is looking at creating incentives to expand the number of students and research dollars.”

Some university staff have raised concerns the new recommendations may bring new problems. Gregory Palermo, president-elect of the Faculty Senate and professor of architecture, said incentives would motivate departments, but also might motivate overly competitive behavior.

The committee’s first report references “unhealthy internal competition” as something the university needs to avoid.

“With the new recommendations, if you meet your target there will probably be some money, people or space to reinforce your efforts,” Palermo said. “This is not supposed to serve as a source of divisiveness.”

He said the committee put cordiality between departments first.

“That’s definitely a possibility if not managed properly,” he said. “Hopefully, there’s some modeling or testing to make sure [the committee’s approach] works.”

One way competition was expressed at University of Southern California, one of the universities that was the subject of February’s budget-practice presentations, was with problems of grade inflation. Palermo said the senate’s data is already showing positive trends.

“We watch grades … and for a 10-year curve, there is a steady, subtle grade inflation,” he said.

The committee’s model is slated to be finished by July 1, 2006, with implementation beginning at the university’s 2007 fiscal year.