How will the budget crisis affect you?

   The newspapers are filled with alarming reports on the state's budget crisis.  Included in the news is that the governor has asked our University to plan for a 10% reduction in our funding.  It seems likely that will happen. What does it mean for our students? For you?  Here's what I hear being gossiped about in the hallways and over coffee.
   Adjuncts and other professors with temporary positions could be let go.  So we could lose some valuable people.  The effect on you could be an increase in class sizes, as students who would have been in sections taught by adjuncts are crammed into other sections.  It's also possible that programs with low numbers of majors could be discontinued or merged with other programs, though current students already majoring in any affected program should be able to finish that program.
  Another possibility is that some administrators and support staff could be laid off.  That could mean you'll be standing in longer lines, waiting longer for action on your requests, etc.
  There is one possible effect that you might not notice but that would upset some professors.  Their research subsidized through reduced teaching load could be eliminated, with a corresponding increase in the number of courses they teach.  In other words, professor Jones (a fictional person), who currently teaches three courses, could be teaching four.  Jones may not like that, but it could actually benefit you (or not, depending on how good a teacher Jones is) as Jones replaces the adjunct who used to teach that course.
  All of this is conjecture at this point.  Keep tuned, as they say.  The next few months are going to be interesting