Friday, February 13, 2009
Chancellor Robert Hemenway testified before the Kansas Senate Ways and Means Subcommittee on Higher Education Wednesday reagarding looming budget cuts and their effect on the University.
The University has already implemented a round of cuts totaling $4.6 million on the Lawrence campus and $3.7 million at the University of Kansas Medical Center, by trimming funds for student jobs, laying off 11 employees, leaving 110 other positions vacant and cutting the learning community program.
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Kansas Senators
Pat Roberts (202) 224-4774 109 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
Sam Brownback (202) 224-6521 303 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
Kansas Congressmen
Jerry Moran – 1st District (785) 628-6401 1200 Main Street, Suite 402 P.O. Box 249 Hays, KS 67601-0249
Lynn Jenkins – 2nd District (202) 225 – 6601 130 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515
Dennis Moore - 3rd District (785) 842-9313 901 Kentucky St., #205 Lawrence, KS 66044
Todd Tiahrt - 4th District (202) 225-6216 2441 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ proposed cuts for fiscal year 2010 would remove an additional $10.8 million from the Lawrence campus budget and $11 million from the Med Center, which is more than the yearly budget for the School of Nursing.
“Cuts of the magnitude proposed in the governor’s budget ... would undoubtedly harm our ability to maintain the promise of a quality, affordable education to our students,” Hemenway said in his testimony.
Hemenway warned that cuts above the 10 percent proposed in the governor’s budget would significantly harm students by necessitating more layoffs, which would result in larger class sizes with fewer course offerings.
Some students say they would be worried if the University had to begin cutting student jobs.
Zack Camacho, Independence senior, works at the Ambler Student Recreation and Fitness Center and said on-campus jobs provided students an important opportunity to work with an employer that understands its employee’s academic responsibility.
“With on-campus jobs they’ll work with your schedule more, but at the other ones they just want you working,” Camacho said.
Teri Chambers, graduate secretary in the department of economics and a senator on University Support Staff Senate, said if these cuts were approved students on the Lawrence campus should expect to see the effects directly. She said she expected a decline in the resources and programs that were previously available to students through support staff and unclassified professional staff.
“Staff is in charge of the little things that seem insignificant,” Chambers said. “The most important people are the lowest paid people on campus. There are people out chipping ice off the sidewalks that we don’t notice until we fall on our butts.”
The budget would be met at the Med Center by eliminating 76 positions, 47 of which are currently occupied. Twenty-nine other positions would switch from full to part time and 300 more would transfer to other sources of funding. In addition, there would be a reduction of $2.3 million in expenditures for new equipment, maintenance and program support.
The proposed cuts would jeopardize the expansion of the School of Pharmacy as well as projects associated with the deferred maintenance campaign, Hemenway said.
Jack Martin, deputy director of University Communications, said each department would be responsible for determining where cuts would be made.
“They know their options best so they’re the ones best equipped to implement the cuts,” Martin said.
In his testimony to the Senate, the chancellor emphasized the University’s commitment to students as well as the importance of higher education in equipping the state with a solid workforce.
“KU recognizes the need for budget cuts during these difficult economic times,” Hemenway said. “But we must also recognize the need for prudence and balance in those cuts to ensure our state’s long-term prosperity is not damaged by cuts needed to close short-term budget gaps.”
— — Edited by Sam Speer
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