Several small departments are being hit hard by the budget crunch.

More cuts are anticipated and the impacts will be more severe next fall, said several department chairs.

“Most of the budget cuts have been for next year,” said Michael Bishop, associate professor and chairman of philosophy and religious studies. “This year, so far, has been fairly typical for us. Next year there will likely be large effects.”

Shu-min Huang, professor and chairman of anthropology, said next year his department will have to do the same amount of teaching with fewer people.

“Basically, we have had to eliminate, or give back, a small part of our funding for graduate assistantships,” Huang said. “Next year we will lose two and a half teaching assistant positions.”

Huang said as of now the department’s expense budget is intact, which includes money for printing and supplies.

Next year could be interesting, Bishop said.

“We are potentially facing some large negative effects, but it is too early to really know what those effects will be,” Bishop said. “That is somewhat scary because it’s getting to be sort of late in the year.”

Huang said a worst-case scenario following these cuts would be further cuts in teaching assistantships.

“There will be four or five next year,” he said. “Cutting them would mean teaching courses without help.”

Because a lot of diversity and international perspective courses are taught by the anthropology department, Huang said, it has “a heavy teaching responsibility.”

“Any rumors that the anthropology department is going to be eliminated are just wrong,” Huang said.

Bishop said the university’s decision to make up for a large midyear de-appropriation by cutting administrative areas has done a lot to shield academic departments.

“The university has done a pretty good job of protecting us this year,” Bishop said.

Bishop is concerned about the quality the department will be able to deliver next year.

“It’s going to be very difficult to protect students from feeling [next year’s] cuts,” Bishop said.

Peter Rabideau, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, said the biggest challenge for small departments like philosophy and religious studies and anthropology is a lack of flexibility.

“We usually work with cutting a percent of the budgets,” he said.

“Since the smaller departments have smaller budgets to begin with, they have less flexibility. But large departments are being hurt as seriously.”

Rabideau said each round of budget cuts is harder for departments and the college.

“The cuts get harder every time,” he said. “At first you cut back on the leading-edge activities that help to build the program. Then you have to start cutting into day-by-day operating costs. After that you start cutting to the bone into some very, very serious things, which is where we are now.”

One obvious impact on quality, Rabideau said, will be fewer research projects. Any reduction in faculty numbers will result in less research, he said.