UPDATE: UT faces across the board budget cuts

In an announcement from The University of Tennessee released Tuesday morning, UT President John Petersen postponed any decisions on program cuts to the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology until October.

The UT board was scheduled to decide on the department's fate this Friday. The department elimination proposal will now be considered at the board's meeting beginning October 23rd.

UT must still slash more than $11,000,00 from the FY 2009 budget.

"Students will feel the impact of this budget," said UT Interim Chancellor Jan Simek.

Students lwill feel it like incoming freshman Laura Witherspoon, on campus with her parents for orientation.

She has dreamed of attending UT since she was a little girl.

Now her parents are concerned budget cuts will hurt academics.

"If she needs certain classes, you want the classes to be available for her," said Laura's mother, Tracey Witherspoon. "You're paying a lot of money for her to go to school here so you really want as many options as possible."

Across the board cuts are not the preferred option for Simek. "This is not a very good outcome for us because it basically randomly, haphazardly cuts positions across the university without any real plan. But in order to make the budget cut request we had to do this." The cuts include not filling 27 open positions.

"For a year or two or three even there's going to be pain. We are going to have reduced teaching capacity, we're going to have fewer classes that was can offer, students are going to have difficulty making their schedules," said Simek.

Simek contends those wider cuts hurt all students, long term. So the impact is worse than cutting whole programs. "It will permanently affect our quality as an institution," said Simek.

The head of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology disagrees.

Ilsa Schwarz, PhD. now has until October to convince the board to keep her department.

"I believe that once all of the facts are out, the university will realize what value this program is to both the University of Tennessee and the community," she said.

WATCH PREVIOUS STORY ON PARENTS' EFFORT TO SAVE DEPARTMENT

While one department rejoices over a reprieve, UT still expects to recommend phasing it out, and perhaps even eliminating more departments.

"We're going to work very hard to find other savings, to identify other programs that may have to come down if we receive similar budget cuts next year," said Simek. "We're not finished here."

Petersen decided to postpone the decision in response to a joint request by Interim Chancellor Jan Simek and Faculty Senate leadership.

"To assure that all concerned have adequate time to study the issue and that we have dealt directly and effectively with all concerns that have been raised during this difficult process, I have agreed to the request by Interim Chancellor Simek and the Faculty Senate to a lengthened period to consider program cuts," Petersen said.

Here is the memo Petersen sent to faculty and staff:

To: Knoxville-area Faculty and Staff

From: President John Petersen

Subject: Budget Recommendations to Board of Trustees

As you all are aware, the UT Knoxville budget process has recommended strategic cuts to eliminate $11.1 million from the campus base budget for the next fiscal year.

I am fully supportive of this strategic decision, which was a difficult choice for the campus leadership to make. In addition to taking 60 percent of this cut from the central campus administration, the recommendation calls for the phase-out or closure of three academic departments or programs, which include the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in the College of Arts and Sciences; the Industrial and Organizational Psychology graduate program in the College of Business Administration; and the dance program, a minor in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences.

I applaud Chancellor Simek, Provost Holub, the deans and vice chancellors for being strategic. I am steadfastly opposed to making across-the-board cuts to deal with our ongoing budget difficulties. The university has not fully recovered from that approach in the 1990's. While it might be easier or more popular in some circles to make the cuts in such a manner, the strength of the entire university would be diminished, and that would be an unacceptable response to difficult circumstances.

Over the last several weeks, in consultation with faculty leadership on campus and with the Board of Trustees around the state, the university administration has been clear in our commitment to be strategic in these difficult budget times. That commitment remains firm.

Today, I am writing to outline a process we will initiate to finalize this budget process, and to ensure that we have dealt directly and effectively with all concerns that have been raised during this difficult process.

First, our budget proposal for the UT system will move forward at this week's meeting, and it will include the base budget cuts of $21 million system wide and the $11.1 million in the Knoxville budget. Unfortunately, based on most analysis of the economic conditions in Tennessee, it is very likely not a one-time problem and additional cuts may be necessary. We must make strategic decisions now to position us for the future.

In order to assure that all concerned have adequate time to study the issue, I have agreed to a request by interim Chancellor Simek and the Faculty Senate to a lengthened budget process. I will ask the trustees to allow our campus and system leadership additional time to seek faculty input and involvement, and we will submit our final recommendations for program cuts at the October meeting of the Board of Trustees.

The state budget process requires quick reaction, which has shortened the discussion time possible. This process will address that.

In no way do I want this extended period to indicate less commitment to strategic budget decision making. We will not emerge from this process with across-the-board cuts. We will do our best to minimize the extent to which these budget cuts compromise the quality of the education at the University of Tennessee.