Syracuse University made the right decision when choosing to cut funding from 601 Tully. However, the university should have been more transparent with its plans.

601 Tully is a community center in the Near Westside, and was established during Nancy Cantor’s time as chancellor. SU is cutting its funding from the center, along with SU Arts Engage and programs along the Connective Corridor, to refocus the budget on the school rather than the city.

The choice to cut funding from 601 Tully shows that Chancellor Kent Syverud is serious about improving the university’s financial situation,even if it means making potentially unpopular decisions. As noted in the Bain report released last Friday, SU’s total revenue growth since 2007 is 3.6 percent, but total operating costs have increased to 3.9 percent, meaning it’s losing more revenue than it makes.

The School of Education also has a budget deficit, which is projected to account for 5 percent of the school-wide budget. In order to address these problems, the university needed to make cuts somewhere. Although 601 Tully is beneficial to the city of Syracuse, university funds should go to students’ education as opposed to community programs.

In the future, the university should also improve its transparency when it plans to cut funds from programs. Students, along with Syracuse residents, need to understand why SU is no longer budgeting for these programs. Instead of cutting funding for these programs silently, the university should do a better job of making the information public. In the case of 601 Tully, the budget cuts could cause the center to close if it does not find alternate funding. By making the public aware of its decisions to cut funding earlier, the university would allow programs more time to seek out alternate funding from grants or outside donors.

The university should also inform the public about why it chose to cut heavily from 601 Tully, as opposed to other programs. People would have a greater understanding of why this was necessary if the university was more transparent with the community about the cutting process.

Cutting funding from 601 Tully was a smart decision that supports Syverud’s new plan of focusing on university improvements. However, SU needs to fix its continuing lack of transparency if it wants to continue to move forward with its improved vision.