NOTE:
The following e-mail message was sent by President Robert A. Corrigan
to SFSU faculty and staff on April 2, 2004
Dear Staff
and Faculty Colleagues:
We now have
more specific information to offer about long-term budget cuts and strategies
across the University. Earlier this week, Vice President Morishita and
Provost Gemello presented the latest budget planning news to the University
Budget Committee (UBC) and the Academic Senate. In keeping with the openness
we have promised to maintain throughout our budget process, I want to
share that information with you.
My earlier
budget messages have laid the groundwork for the following figures. In
just two years -- 2003/04 and 2004/05 -- we will have lost more than
$25 million in our general fund budget -- $14.1 million this fiscal year
and the $11 million reduction for 2004/05 stemming from the Governor's
January budget proposal. If the May revise lowers the CSU's allocation,
we will be even harder hit.
We have
addressed this year's $14.1 million problem in three ways: using about
$4 million in one-time dollars; requiring the vice presidents to make
temporary reductions in their areas for a total of $6.6 million; and
making $3.5 million in permanent cuts. Looking to 2004/05, we face a
need to identify permanent cuts totaling approximately $22 million --
the remainder of the 2003/04 reductions that we addressed on a temporary
basis this year plus the projected additional budget reduction of $11
million for 2004/05.
The largest
share of the cuts, some $9.8 million, will have to come from Academic
Affairs which, as I have noted before, comprises 63% of the University's
budget. That $9.8 million figure assumes that Chancellor Reed approves
the Academic Instruction fee voted in so resoundingly by our students
in the March 2-3 referendum. The fee would bring us $2.9 million. Without
it, our cuts would be that much deeper.
The provost,
college deans, chairs and faculty are now engaged in an intensive process
of conversation and consultation. The plan for proposed cuts in Academic
Affairs will be made public no later than the end of April. The provost
has already identified several "very likely" elements of that
plan: $800,000 in cuts in units reporting to him; a plan to gradually
phase out general fund support for remedial courses by fall 2006, for
a saving of at least $600,000; a proposed $2.3 million cut in the general
fund budget for the College of Business -- achievable in part by moving
some programs to self-support; and discontinuation or suspension of other
academic programs.
At this
point, no decisions to cut academic programs have been made, despite
rumors or statements on campus to the contrary. A number of difficult
decisions lie ahead; however we have an open and transparent process
for reaching them. In addition, we have a number of well-established
Senate policies governing program discontinuation, as well as protections
for students currently enrolled in such programs. No academic program
will be discontinued without a full and open discussion.
In areas
other than Academic Affairs, the vice presidents already have identified
almost $6 million in new reductions for 2004-05. Key items include more
than $2 million in management reductions; elimination of $1.4 million
in general fund support to Athletics; a $1 million cut in deferred maintenance;
a $573,000 reduction in work study matching funds; the move of the Career
Center off the general fund ($530,000); the elimination, for a $402,000
savings, of the Office of Human Relations -- though we remain fully committed
both to the values the office represented and to maintaining its essential
functions; and reorganization and consolidation of the offices of Public
Affairs and Publications, plus other reductions in Advancement, for savings
of approximately $800,000.
Up to this
point, we have presented the numbers. But all of us who are deeply involved
in budget planning know that at an institution where 80% of the budget
is salaries and benefits, numbers equal people. That weighs heavily on
us, as it should. I can only assure you that we will do our utmost to
mitigate the impact on every staff member, every faculty member and every
administrator who is ultimately affected by budget cuts.
We will
continue to keep you informed as budget planning proceeds.
-- Robert
A. Corrigan, president
Robert A. Corrigan President
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