Still reeling from a 4 percent budget cut in October, the U is facing two additional 5 percent cuts in the near future, for a total of 14 percent.
The looming reductions are part of the state’s efforts to meet Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.’s proposed $1 billion state budget cut in the face of a national economic recession. The size of the budget cutbacks will vary in each college, with deans primarily responsible for making cuts in their own colleges with the aid of department chairs and faculty.
Deans and administrators don’t expect to have to lay off current tenured or tenure-track professors, but adjunct and teaching assistant positions aren’t as secure. The hiring of new faculty will almost definitely suffer, altogether resulting in cut classes and larger class sizes.
With the U drastically tightening its belt, deans and department chairs should be extra careful about how they should cut funding. The communication department, for example, plans to cut its faculty’s voice mail services, a fairly minor bill, but is looking to hire a new faculty member. Cutting basics like voice mail won’t do much to offset the much higher cost of a new faculty member, let alone minimize expenditures. We understand this has put every college in a very difficult position, but that is all the more reason to ensure cuts are consistent. People on a stringent budget wouldn’t stop buying groceries so they could afford their cable television.
The cuts in general, however, are questionable. Although most state programs are experiencing similar cuts, K-12 education is remaining untouched, and rightly so. But if the Legislature truly considers education that important, higher education should receive similar consideration. Hopefully K-12’s budget cut immunity is a reflection of the value the Legislature places on education, and not because K-12 education in Utah has already suffered from financial neglect.
Protecting K-12 funding while slashing the budget of higher education is like paving a road that leads off a cliff. Making burdensome cuts to university programs starts a snowball effect. Less funding translates to less faculty, which means fewer courses and larger classes. Having fewer courses will lower the quality of the education offered. Students of higher education are standing on the edge of the workforce, and lowering the quality of their education can only hinder the economy’s recovery.
We understand students will have to share part of the price tag, and should prepare for higher tuition. Meanwhile, the state should take another look at how adversely severe budget cuts for state colleges and universities will affect the economy.