Budget cuts again

Dear Colleague,

In the wake of President Machen's instruction to deans to plan for additional deep budget cuts, there has been much discussion of the likely consequences of such cuts for faculty. The administration has said that lay-offs are all but inevitable.

The Union believes, as I am sure you do, that lay-off are a measure of last resort and that all other avenues must be thoroughly explored first to find a way to avoid them. Apparently, the administration does not share this view. It has not imposed a hiring freeze, something unprecedented in a budget crisis. The hiring of both new faculty and new administrators continues even while several of your colleagues who have given dedicated service to the university are being laid off. The excuse that the new hiring is from special appropriations targeted for staffing courses in great demand will not wash. There are national searches under way for a number of senior administrative positions. Grant that these positions need to be filled. Could this not be done from within UF? External appointments in just a couple of these positions would eat up more funds than the savings realized from the currently scheduled faculty lay-offs. From the day President Machen announced these lay-offs, the Union has taken the position that their necessity had not been demonstrated. The same is the case with the lay-offs the administration claims are likely to be needed in the future.

It is for this reason that the Union has not so far endorsed the suggestion that furloughs might be an alternative to lay-offs. While we applaud the impulse behind that idea and share the view that, if push comes to shove, furloughs are preferable to lay-offs, we will continue to insist that the administration first show that such a choice is necessary. It should be clear from the above that it has not done so.

You may also be aware of the legislation currently being discussed in Congress to channel substantial new funds for higher education. While there can be no certainty about the outcome, there is reason to believe that some help is on the way and that there may be less need for additional budget cuts than the administration is predicting. To say this is not to question the prudence of contingency planning, only to suggest that crossing bridges before we come to them may be unwise.

I would also like to remind you that you now have stronger protections than heretofore under the new article governing lay-offs recently agreed to by the Union and the administration. You can find it on our web site (www.uffacultycontract.org).

Please feel free to share your views on these matters by writing to me at president@uff-uf.org. It is important that we hear from the faculty we represent.

Sincerely,

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