  A concern in my department: due to an expected Texas budget shortfall in the billions and subsequent cut of education monies by 7%, the UT System has instituted a hiring freeze, effective indefinitely. This affects tons of people and organizations, but it hurts me at this moment because it will be much tougher to use the campus editing lab to finish my short documentary project. While I don't really care about that (I'll finish), I realize that this is a huge inconvenience not just to the RTF Department, but to everything on campus, from the cleaners to the cooks to the techies.
There are a lot of other ways to save the money. Thus, my first attempt to foil the system, through sarcasm: Dear Daily Texan Editor, The hiring freeze does not only hamper the hiring of professors, as bureaucrats have spun it. All campus-wide jobs are not hiring, and people who were hired but whose paperwork was not processed are stuck, leaving many offices with a skeleton crew. While this harms a number of initiatives, this affects me in regards to the RTF Editing Lab. Due to the hiring freeze, there are currently only four lab proctors.
To compensate the loss, the lab cut 32 hours off its schedule; not hours when the lab is used by classes, but hours allotted for students to complete projects and homework. The over 200 students who use these 20 machines now must work with 1/3 less time to do it. Rather than raise philosophical questions of education outside the classroom and the importance of providing adequate resources for students, Ill tackle the reason for the freeze: saving money. Of the $433 I paid this semester in technology and production course fees, I can deduce that at least $50 of my fees went to the privilege of using this lab outside of class.
Is the University entitled to this money? This money was for a service that they arent providing. Therefore, since the available hours were cut by 33%, I expect the University of Texas to reimburse me this 33%, $17. The University is welcome to check my math. Direct deposit will be fine, though if need be, I will substitute that for a steak dinner with President Faulkner. urlLink Let me know if you think I should send it. 
