Threatened budget cuts

Dear Colleague,

As you contemplate the prospect of further deep budget cuts and the next round of lay-off the administration claims are unavoidable, I want to ask you to consider the following facts.

The first thing one expects a university in severe financial difficulties to do is to declare a hiring freeze. Many other universities have done so. UF has not. In fact, UF appears to be on a hiring binge. As I write, the on-line edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education is carrying over a hundred advertisements of administrative and faculty positions at UF. Of the several hundred other institutions listing vacancies, not one is in double figures. UF apparently has the resources to make more than ten times as many outside appointments as the likes of Harvard (4), Michigan (5) or Berkeley (7) -- not to mention FSU (0).

Indeed, the resources are there. Estimates of the unrestricted funds available to the UF administration range from $131 million to an astounding $900+ million. Assume the lower of these figures, one that even the administration does not challenge. Assume further that a substantial portion of it must be held in an emergency reserve. ($45 million, according to the administration.) That leaves $85 million, which the administration can spend as it chooses. It has said repeatedly that it intends to spend it on equipment purchases and new programs, which it considers to be of higher priority than retaining faculty.

How, in the light of these facts, can the administration justify laying off our colleagues who have proven their productivity and loyalty to UF, destroying thriving programs and short-changing our students? The excuse that financial conditions leave it no choice has worn thin, if it ever had any plausibility. It must be clear by now that what lies behind the administration's actions is something else: a plan to reshape the university on the sly, without the kind of civil and rational discussion an academic community has the right to expect.

The Union will continue to speak up for the rights of the faculty and the true interests of the university. I hope it can count on you support.

Sincerely,

John Biro, President
United Faculty of Florida
238 Norman Hall, PO Box 117055
Phone: 392-0274
Email: president@uff-uf.org