UMass Magazine Online

Summer 2003

Departments

Around the Pond

Features

The Vast Area of Small

Tiny couch potatoes

Pumped-up Roosters

The pervasive presence of microbes

At-risk Native Talk

Our giant in hedge funds

Around the Pond

Budget Update

THE CAMPUS CONTINUES TO WORK through the challenge posed by a legislative budget reduction of about $25 million. This substantial cut required the university to follow a careful process of review and budget reduction designed to preserve essential elements of academic programs. Following budget reductions over the past two years, the university recognizes that everything addressed this year represents a strong program of value to one or another of its major constituencies.

In May, Chancellor John Lombardi told the Faculty Senate that the legislature’s final budget – expected in mid-June – would involve “dramatic reductions” to campus programs. Nevertheless, he promised, “When we get done, we will be strong and we will be able to compete” in the core areas of teaching and research.

To do this with a minimum loss to the institution’s essence, Lombardi delineated three categories of university expenses, beginning with those farthest from its core.

Category I are “items that do not serve directly the teaching or research interest of the institution.” Cuts here involve savings of about $3 million from various programs and institutes serving important university and Commonwealth constituencies; and an additional savings of about $2.7 million from a state early retirement program.

Cuts in Category II, programs that touch on the university’s teaching and research mission, total about $10 million. Specific cuts will be determined within the units affected.

The third category, teaching and research itself, is “very serious territory,” said Lombardi. Discussion of any need to address this issue will begin as this magazine goes to press. Before proposing significant reductions in its core academic mission, the university will surely need to discuss additional increases in student fees with the president and the board of trustees. Nationwide, legislative budget reductions have resulted in students and parents assuming more of the cost of a university education, even as institutions reduce expenses and institute wide-ranging efficiency measures.

UMass constituencies, in advisory committees of alumni, students, faculty and staff, and individuals through e-mails and other responses have helped the chancellor put the impact of these proposals into perspective. The budget process appears online in constantly updated form at: www.umass.edu/budget.

[top of page]

A May Day celebration

Du Bois: Larger image

Digging for answers at Du Bois' home

Digging: More images

Budget Update

It's not just about cuts

Pollin: Larger image

Let's hear it for the class of 2003!

Let's Hear it: More images

Make my day

Make my day: Larger image