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UL — Academic programs and jobs at the University of Louisiana were spared in the university’s midyear budget reduction of $4.3 million.
The other UL System four-year campuses may not be as fortunate, as universities struggle with mandated budget reductions of $55 million to help cover the state’s $341 million deficit.
UL submitted budget revisions to its governing body, the University of Louisiana System on Tuesday, and the cuts are set for final approval from the joint legislative committee on the budget Friday.
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By MARSHA SILLS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
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“I’m comfortable with this,” said Joseph Savoie, ULL president. “We didn’t impact the academic core. We’re avoiding layoffs. We’re still able to move forward with our strategic plan. I’m confident, but fearful for next year.”
The majority of the $4.3 million — $3.2 million — is being cut from funds to address deferred maintenance, which had been tagged as a priority for Savoie when he became president in July.
The bulk of that initiative was completed last semester, but more self-funded efforts to renovate older buildings and restrooms is now on hold, said William Crist, ULL physical plant director.
The cut also puts a hold on replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning units and window replacement projects, Crist said.
“The most expensive part was the HVAC units,” Crist said. “That’s almost $2 million right there.”
Those HVAC units and window replacement orders were already under contract and will be completed, he said.
The budget hacking also included a reduction of $200,000 from the travel budget and $100,000 in supply cuts.
Savoie said the decision was made to cut athletics and research centers funded by the university by the same percentage the university faced — 4.6 percent.
That equaled $254,000 for athletics and $566,845 split among several research centers that receive university support, including the LITE Center, Picard Center, Small Business Development Center, New Iberia Research Center and other information technology initiatives.
The cuts also affected the university’s autonomous vehicle research project known as “Cajunbot,” which was developed as part of an international research initiative created by the U.S. Department of Defense.
For the past three years, Cajunbot has been selected to compete against major universities.
The cuts may impair the university’s ability to remain competitive and engage its students in research opportunities, said Arun Lakhotia, who leads the Cajunbot team.
“More than impact on the research, the cuts impact the trained personnel we generate. The real outcome of the research like Cajunbot is that it challenges our young to shoot for the stars,” Lakhotia said. “With appropriate resources we have demonstrated that we indeed can.”
Savoie said members of the university council, which includes vice presidents and the faculty senate president, reached a consensus about the final plan.
The reductions aren’t expected to impact university plans to fill key positions, including its national searches for vice presidents of enrollment management and business and finance; or a development director who will act as chief fundraiser.
Those three positions are vital to the university, if it expects to manage larger budget cuts which are expected next year, Savoie said.
Originally, higher education’s share was $109 million, with ULL’s share at $7.3 million. With that figure, jobs and programming would have taken a hit, Savoie said.
Now after passing one hurdle, Savoie said he is preparing his faculty and staff for what could be a more-challenging financial situation next year. In the coming weeks, Savoie will ask faculty and staff to form task forces to devise cost-saving initiatives and possible revenue-building opportunities.
If the deficit outlook for next fiscal year remains the projected $2 billion, it will translate into deeper cuts for universities.
“The cuts we’re making are effectively one-time expenditures,” Savoie said. “When that flexibility is gone, we’ll have to get into the people and programs. Next year could be a nightmare.”
The university is reviewing all programs at the request of system head Randy Moffett, for a list of low-completor programs at each of the system’s eight universities.
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