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TO:
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All UNL Faculty and
Staff |
FROM:
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Chancellor Harvey Perlman |
DATE:
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November 20, 2002 |
RE:
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Final Budget Reductions Recommendations |
Introduction
The 2002 Special Session of the Legislature required the
University of Nebraska system to reduce its budget for the
2002-2003 fiscal year for the third time. On September 10,
2002, I made proposals for reducing the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
budget by $7,513,953. This reduction follows two earlier
rounds in which the UNL base budget was reduced by $9.8
million. In accordance with “Procedures to be Invoked
for Significant Budget Reallocations and Reductions”
these proposals were submitted to the Academic Planning
Committee, hearings were held to permit an open discussion
of the proposals, and, on November 14, 2002, the Academic
Planning Committee forwarded to me its final recommendations.
I have carefully considered the committee’s recommendations
as well as many thoughtful comments and suggestions that
I received independently. I have had the opportunity to
discuss with the members of the APC their thinking that
lay behind their recommendations. This report outlines my
response to the APC recommendations and announces my final
budget decisions.
I first want to thank the members of the APC who gave extraordinary
amounts of time and effort to this process. Although I do
not accept all of their recommendations, their report is
a thoughtful and helpful document that brought a useful
perspective to the process. I also want to thank the many
citizens of Nebraska, many of whom were angered or disappointed
in my recommendations, but who engaged us in constructive
dialog. I wish it were possible to respond to each of their
concerns in a positive way.
Responses to the APC recommendations.
1. Division of Continuing Studies. Earlier the Academic
Planning Committee accepted my recommendations to close
the Division of Continuing Studies and reassign the units
of that division. This recommendation was accepted by the
Board of Regents and is in the final stages of implementation.
The APC’s letter to me and my response are posted
on the Web site (see links below).
2. Learning Centers. The APC endorsed the recommendation
to withdraw administrative support for the learning centers
in Grand Island and North Platte. I affirm that decision.
It should be emphasized that UNL plans to continue to provide
distance education courses to both areas as demand justifies.
3. West Central Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The APC
recommended against closing the diagnostic laboratory in
North Platte and the elimination of the veterinarian at
the West Central Research and Extension Center. I regret
that I cannot fully accept their recommendation.
A. Diagnostic Laboratory. For reasons that were more fully
described when we closed the Scottsbluff diagnostic laboratory,
I continue to believe that the animal industry is better
served in the long run by focusing limited resources on
a single, sophisticated veterinary diagnostic laboratory
in Lincoln. I recognize this will not be as convenient for
those livestock producers located near Scottsbluff and North
Platte. However, with overnight delivery and proposed changes
in procedures in Lincoln, I believe the Lincoln facility
can provide a reasonable level of service statewide.
The APC based its recommendation in part on testimony expressing
concern that elimination of the laboratory in North Platte
would increase the state’s vulnerability to bioterrorism.
This would, of course, be a serious concern. However, after
examining the issue more thoroughly, I remain skeptical
that the absence of the laboratory will have any significant
adverse affect in this context. The Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources has prepared a background document
that offers more detail on this matter. It is posted on
the Web site. (See link below.)
B. Extension Veterinarian. The APC recommended retention
of the extension veterinarian in North Platte. While I continue
to believe that diagnostic services can be provided to clients
from the laboratory in Lincoln, there is a separate concern
about veterinary extension education. Vice Chancellor Owens
has developed an alternative plan that would provide extension
education to western Nebraska. Although Dr. Steven Ensley,
the current veterinarian in North Platte, will be reassigned
to Lincoln, the Cooperative Extension Division will reallocate
funds within the division to create a veterinary extension
educator position located either in North Platte, Scottsbluff,
or at an extension office in western Nebraska. The University’s
ability to fill this position will depend on the university’s
budget situation going into the next biennium.
4. South Central Research and Extension Center. The APC,
while concurring in the recommendation to convert SCREC
from an autonomous center to a research laboratory, recommended
that the faculty positions, proposed to be reassigned to
Lincoln or another research and extension center, be kept
in Clay Center. The consequence of the APC’s recommendation
would leave the faculty in Clay Center without the secretarial
and technical support necessary to successfully conduct
their research. I understand that the faculty members regard
this diminished support as something that would create a
significant risk to their own research and professional
advancement. Accordingly I cannot accept the APC’s
recommendation.
The closure of SCREC was the most difficult decision to
make. Vice Chancellor Owens and I both recognize, and deeply
regret, the economic consequences to that community. We
are also both sensitive to the important, and in many ways
unique role that the region plays as a producer of irrigated
corn and the need for interaction with our faculty. Nonetheless,
the reduction in our budget does not permit us to continue
to maintain the center as it was without eliminating some
other important facility elsewhere. The university will
continue to operate a research farm at Clay Center and faculty
will continue to conduct their research in the area even
though housed in other parts of the state. In addition,
the university will take the following steps to provide
continuing service to producers in the region:
A. Provision will be made to use technology wherever possible
to maintain communications between faculty in Lincoln and
producers in the South Central region from extension offices
in Clay Center, Hastings, Grand Island, Aurora, and Geneva.
B. Telephone conferences and enhanced Website activity will
be used to provide regional producers with additional information.
C. Contingent on university funding, a water resources engineer
position would be filled in Biological Systems Engineering. This person would have statewide responsibilities with
an emphasis on water management needs in the South Central
region.
D. Under the direction of the former director of SCREC,
a planning effort will be initiated immediately, designed
to update the strategic plan of the Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources in light of the budget reductions
incurred during this fiscal year. Special attention will
be given to exploring how the cooperate extension division
can assure continuing service to the south central region.
(See the IANR background report on the Web for more details [link below].)
5. Termination of Tenure-track faculty. One consequence
of the closing of the North Platte diagnostic laboratory
and the South Central Research and Extension Center was
the termination of two tenure-track, but untenured faculty.
The APC strongly recommended that, regardless of the outcome
of the two programs, the faculty members should be retained.
The APC expressed concern that the terminations were not
consistent with AAUP or University policies, did not involve
review by a faculty committee and were not justified on
the basis of their quality of work, would have a chilling
effect on probationary faculty, and would create concerns
by faculty associated with centers and other “programs”
not directly within their tenure homes.
First, let me address the definition of “program”
for purposes of program eliminations. The definition is
found in our own procedures for budget reductions as well
as in Executive Memorandum #24 issued by President Smith.
Both the AAUP policies and the Board of Regents bylaws recognize
that both tenured and tenure-track faculty can be terminated
if their program is eliminated. I also understand that the
broad definition of program holds potential for abuse. I
addressed this concern in a letter to the chair of the APC
earlier this year and I have put that letter on the website.
Notwithstanding these issues, I am clear that both the SCREC
and the Diagnostic Laboratory are “programs”
within this definition and that certainly these untenured
faculty members could be terminated accordingly. I recognize
that any termination of faculty will cause other faculty
concern, just as the termination of staff have caused considerable
anxiety among our remaining staff. I wish I could eliminate
this anxiety but it is created, unfortunately, by the times
in which we find ourselves. Because the decision was based
on program elimination, it is difficult to see a clear role
for a faculty committee to assess the quality of their work.
I am prepared to assume that both professors were productive
faculty members.
Nonetheless, I have decided to withdraw the termination
of both Professor Ensley and Professor Stack. We had anticipated
that Professor Ensley would be offered a non-tenure track,
lower paying, existing vacant position in the diagnostic
laboratory in Lincoln where his toxicology skills would
be valuable. Since that recommendation was made, Vice Chancellor
Owens and his staff have developed plans to restructure
research activities to extension education activities at
the Great Plains Veterinary Education Center at Clay Center
which not only enhances the veterinary extension services
but also frees funds to provide a tenure track position
for Professor Ensley.
Professor Stack will be reassigned to Lincoln in the Plant
Pathology Department. As the only plant pathologist currently
working on corn diseases, his expertise is important to
providing a basis for statewide extension activities in
this area of importance to Nebraska. He will be placed on
a tenure-leading line and will be eligible for tenure consideration
in the ordinary course. His position will be temporarily
funded with salary savings and permanently funded by the
next vacancy in the Plant Pathology Department.
I can assure the University community that all of us in
the administration are pleased that we were able to find
ways to utilize (and pay for) the talents and expertise
that these faculty members represent and avoid the termination
of untenured faculty.
6. Nebraska Council for Economic Education. The APC recommended
that some portion of the funding for the council be continued
in order to keep this important program functioning. The
council is partially funded by state dollars, by a small
contribution of the Nebraska Department of Education, and
by contributions from the private sector. During the process
of exploring both the APC recommendation and suggestions
received from the private sector, it appeared that a careful
review of the structure and expenditures of the council
might create opportunities for its continuation and enhancement
with significantly less investment of state resources. Accordingly,
I am holding this reduction in abeyance to permit this review
to occur and for alternatives to surface. Any potential
continuing UNL contribution will be contingent on the university’s
budget experience during the next biennium.
7. Recycling Program. A significant portion of the reduction
in the Division of Business and Finance resulted in eliminating
custodial office pick-up of recyclable paper. Current university
policy is that custodians pick up trash once per week and
recyclable paper once per week. The proposed reduction would
eliminate the recyclable pick-up. The university recycling
program, however, would continue, and it was hoped that
university personnel would voluntarily bring their recyclables
to a site at each building. The APC asked that we consider
alternatives. While affirming the reduction, the Division
of Business and Finance is prepared to give the residents
of each building the option of how to allocate the once
per week pick-up. Some buildings may opt to alternate trash
and recyclable pick-ups.
8. Other recommendations. The APC endorsed the remaining
proposed reductions in Business and Finance, Student Affairs,
Academic Affairs, and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources. I affirm those reductions.
None of these decisions came easily. They all impact adversely
the university, and, in my view, the state of Nebraska.
They represent our efforts to find the least worst alternative,
consistent with our priorities. Our priorities are clear:
To protect the future of the state of Nebraska by creating
a university that will retain the state’s young people
and will attract young people from elsewhere; to contribute
to the future economic prosperity of Nebraska and its quality
of life by enhancing our research and creative activity
and by using our educational resources to serve the people
throughout Nebraska. It should be clear, however, that the
university cannot continue business as usual and still reduce
its budget by more than $16 million.
We have, in this process, lost valuable employees whose
lives have been tragically disrupted. We also have been
forced to disappoint many friends and supporters of the
university who depended on the services we can no longer
provide. We have done our best to minimize the damage but
damage has been done. It bears repeating that this was not
of our choosing. We continue to believe the future of this
state depends on a strong university and that further erosion
of our budget will do incalculable damage, not only to the
university, but to the long-term prospects for the state
of Nebraska.
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