President Lane will lead a discussion about the Legislative Post Audit Performance Audit Report from 3:30 to 5 p.m. today in Albert Taylor Hall. The report, which was published by the Kansas Board of Regents, addressed what state universities can do to more efficiently reduce costs.

About 655 positions were eliminated, held vacant or laid off and nearly 550 classes were eliminated across the state, according to a press release from the Kansas Board of Regents.

Lane will also discuss some of the key points in the audit, said Marjorie Werly, director of public relations. An open forum where audience members will be allowed to ask questions will follow Lane’s presentation.

Included in the report, which is 111 pages long, is information that compares how costs per student and staffing levels compare at different universities and the actions universities could take to reduce academic and institutional spending.

The report separates the schools as either regional universities (focusing mainly on teaching) or research universities (focusing on research and teaching). The regional universities are Emporia State, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State. The research universities are University of Kansas, Kansas State and Wichita State.

It states that ESU and KU spent approximately $2,000 more per student than their in-state counterparts and that ESU and Kansas State had more total staff per student in 2008 than their counterparts.

From 1997 to 2008, ESU had the largest tuition increase among the regional universities, with exception of fulltime undergraduates who were Kansas residents.

The report also states the top five departments of each university with the highest percentage of undergraduate low enrollment sections. At ESU, those departments were Library and Information Management, Music, Modern Languages, Art and Communication & Theatre.

ESU is the smallest of the Regents universities.

Kelsey Ryan & Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin