Florida university budget reduction exercise: The sky is not falling
Sent to the bargaining unit yesterday (July 6):
Dear colleagues,
Most of you have seen Provost Khator’s e-mails Tuesday and yesterday [see the relevant website for documents] regarding the state university system chancellor’s request for each university to draw up plans to reduce budgets by 10% over the next two years, soliciting faculty and staff input on ways to manage this budget reduction exercise.
Today’s USF chapter meeting of the United Faculty of Florida (the faculty and professional employees union) approved a resolution on the budget crisis, one that is below my signature. The resolution states the chapter’s official position on the state’s threat to reduce university funding in a way that will cut existing programs and services: Cuts to existing programs should be unnecessary, and much of what may be drawn up at the state level may be inconsistent with existing state law regarding budget reductions. I understand that the administration at USF and other universities have to respond to the request of the chancellor for a plan, but there is no need for faculty to panic.
The chapter has taken a stand on the structure of budget cuts; as chapter president, I think there are a few other matters that need to be said about the discussion around and the list of prospective cuts distributed by the provost:
1) Any item affecting the terms and conditions of employment for employees represented by one of the campus unions is shaped by the collective bargaining relationship between a union and management. These items include mandatory subjects of bargaining such as salaries but also include other items as well. Even items that are prerogatives of management may be protected as past practice or be subject to impact bargaining. I know the administration is aware of this fact, which is why I am treating the lists distributed by the provost as a set of ideas collected from stakeholders rather than detailed plans, unless or until the administration states or demonstrates an intention to impose changes unilaterally. (If you know of such changes taking place in your department or unit, please contact me, because faculty and professional employees have to be the eyes and ears of the chapter.)
2) One danger in discussing budget cuts is the way that zero-sum discussions can erode the common purpose of a university. The union represents everyone in the bargaining unit because faculty and professional employees in the unit have repeatedly chosen UFF as the collective bargaining agent. We’re in this university together, whether you teach and write about accounting, chemical engineering, foreign languages, philosophy, or physics. It is very tempting to frame debates over resources in ways to advantage one’s own department, unit, or college. It is too easy to recommend cuts that affect others, without considering that the others are colleagues. But that is a dangerous way to treat colleagues at a university that is as large and diverse as the University of South Florida.
Yours,
Sherman Dorn
USF Chapter President
United Faculty of Florida
THE SKY IS NOT FALLING
Motion approved at the July 6, 2007, UFF-USF Chapter meeting
Whereas the current projected revenue deficit for the State of Florida FY 2008 budget is under 1.7% of the state budget;
Whereas Florida Statutes 216.222 allows withdrawals from the Budget Stabilization Fund to cover a deficit in the General Revenue Fund;
Whereas Florida Statutes 215.16(2) and 216.221(5)(c)(1) prohibit post-appropriations budget reductions in education greater than reductions in other departments and agencies;
Whereas Florida Statutes 215.16(2) also prohibits budget reductions in higher education greater than the reductions required in K-12;
Whereas Florida Statutes 216.221(5)(c)(3) requires that new programs be cut before cuts in existing programs;
And whereas more than $115 million in new programs was authorized by the Florida Legislature in the FY 2008 budget—$100 million for Centers of Excellence, approximately $10 million in planning for new medical schools at UCF and FIU, and $5 million to hire new faculty at FSU;
HEREBY IT IS RESOLVED, the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida sees no need to degrade the education of current students or the working conditions of faculty and staff at the University of South Florida or at any public college or university in the state of Florida through cuts to existing programs in the 2007-08 year, and the chapter urges the administration to advocate the elimination of new programs in the State University System before cutting existing programs and degrading the education, research, and service programs that currently exist.