Budget Committee (2 positions)

Alex Tinker

Personal Statement:

Serving on the 2012-13 Budget Committee has uniquely positioned me to be an effective representative in 2013-14. I have a good working relationship with next year’s faculty chair and a solid understanding of how the process works, where the friction is, and where the opportunities for impact lie.

Goals:

We did some good work this year, but we could do better. If re-elected, my priorities on the budget committee will include:

1. Continuing to adjust L&C to the new legal market. A key strategic decision this year was reducing the incoming class size. In the short-run, this helps maintain the quality of L&C students in the face of a sharp decline in applications. In the medium- and long-run, it helps better match our supply of law grads to the market’s demand, and should make everyone’s job hunt a *little* bit easier. It also presents an immediate hit to the school’s main revenue source: tuition. I’m committed to keeping the next incoming class small (maybe even smaller if we can make the numbers work) to give students the best chance for success in the job market and maintain our ability to admit only highly qualified applicants.

2. Increasing the transparency of the budget process and opportunities for student input. This year we held a couple of town hall-style events to gather student input and help students understand the budget process, in addition to sending out a student survey. Next year I’ll focus on getting more student input earlier on, and channeling it in ways that have more influence over the broader faculty, who ultimately approve the budget.

3. Controlling tuition increases. This year we allowed tuition to rise by 3%, one of the lowest rates in recent years and a lower rate than most of our peer institutions. (And we did this in the face of a huge revenue shortfall from reducing class size.) Moving forward, I’d like to see tuition and the faculty raise pool linked to the institution’s performance (ie job placement success, USN rankings) and the quality and variety of educational offerings (ie clinic opportunities).

Jennifer Linnéa Myrick

Personal Statement:
I have experience advocating for interests that take part in a general fund. Additionally, I support a reflective and thoughtful allocation of a budget to meet our school’s standard. Overall, I would like contribute to the fantastic direction our school is heading and build on our strengths.

Goals:
I think that the Budget Committee does a fantastic job and would like to continue on the path set by past members. With a focus on accountability and transparency I would like to further the fantastic work that has already been done.

Kyle Johnson

Personal Statement:
I am qualified to be a Budget Committee Representative because I attended the Budget Town Hall meetings and developed an understanding of the budget such that I can hit the ground running if elected. I think the budget committee is the place to address the most difficult challenges facing our law school, present and future.

Those challenges include:
- total cost of attendance increasing at rates outmatching the economic return on a law degree
- plummeting rates of applications to schools leading to, in some schools, an outright deficiency in admissions, and thus reduced revenue
- an outdated and inflexible model that has allowed legal education to languish in responding to changes in the legal profession and the communities it serves
-budget shortages and down-sizing of staff in response to smaller class sizes

I will represent the student body as a concerned, practical, and engaged student who is dedicated to making the future fiscally sustainable.

Goals:
If elected, I will:
- Dedicate my summer to familiarizing myself with and preparing for next Fall’s meetings in order to learn, understand, and identify the financial needs and goals of the school.
- Connect those circumstances to the perspectives of the average student via public notices and feedback, surveys, town hall meetings, and informal conversation.
- Represent concerned students’ situations, needs, goals, and ideas at meetings and other interactions.
- Advocate fiscal restraint to achieve a sustained trend of tuition increase rates at or below indicators of the national economy (Say, for example, inflation. I find it alarming that from 1987 to 2009, average public law school tuition has increased 10% per year when inflation averaged slightly more than 3%.)