The latest effort by the University to trim the budget has some faculty feeling like they’ve been “slapped in the face.”

Faculty and staff must now submit a detailed travel authority request at least two weeks in advance of travel, citing reasons for the trip and proof it is “mission critical” to their work, according to a memo sent to Franklin College faculty on Sept. 16.

Travel authority requests are reviewed at a department level first, and then sent for the dean’s approval, before facing final review from University Provost Arnett Mace.

“It’s unprecedented for travel to professional conferences to be under this level of scrutiny,” said Janet Frick, an associate professor in psychology, in a telephone interview Friday. “(Asking faculty to justify attending conferences) would be like students being asked to justify why they’re studying. It’s not a luxury, it’s a requirement. A faculty member who never went to their professional conferences would not be considered to be doing their job.”

The administration stepped into the travel authority process following a statewide moratorium issued by Gov. Sonny Perdue to “curtail all out-of-state and in-state non-essential travel for business, including conferences.”

Due to budget cuts, Franklin College cannot allocate travel funds, leaving faculty dependent on University aid.

“Our first priority is to protect personnel and instruction, research and public service,” Mace wrote in a statement to The Red & Black Sunday. “Travel is still being approved for ‘essential/critical needs.’”

But what defines “essential” travel is unclear to many faculty members, some of whom rely on conference attendance to raise research funding.

“It seems it was a very sudden, rash, not well-thought out decision,” to give the administration veto power over faculty travel, said Samantha Joye, a marine science professor, in a telephone interview Sunday. “I’m all for reasonable oversight, but this just seems like micromanaging in to the nth degree.”

Joye helped a research colleague rewrite his travel authority after he was denied permission to attend a conference where he was invited to speak. The scientist’s research grant would have paid for his trip at no cost to the University, she said.

“His travel authority was declined with a post-it note stuck to it saying ‘more justification required,’” she said. “This is a case where it was an invited talk at a big, international meeting. His only responsibility (as research faculty) is doing research. He was doing what he was supposed to do.”

The researcher went on the trip anyway, Joye said, but he will not be reimbursed by his grant until the University approves his travel authority.

“Now he’s sitting on nearly $3,000 in credit card bills accruing interest that the University is not going to pay,” she said, “He’s going to pay.”

The upper administration’s control over faculty travel is hurting faculty and staff, Joye said.

“I think part of this is (the administration) wanting more control over where people are and what they’re doing,” Joye said. “We live our jobs. To suggest that we’re not capable of figuring out whether we need to go to meetings really damages morale.”

Raising research funding “takes an enormous amount of time and energy,” Joye said. “Going to conferences and workshops, that’s all a critical part of what we do as scientists.”

In what used to be a decision made at the department level, factoring in input from the deans and Mace is wasting valuable resources rather than saving them, Joye said, and puts the decision in the hands of people who have no connections to the validity of a faculty member’s request to travel.

This year, some faculty learned about the policy changes only when their requests for travel were denied. Others were hindered by a lack of communication from the administration on how much funding was available.

Melisa Cahnmann, a language and literacy associate professor, planned to promote her book and present her research at a London conference this month, but she canceled her trip in August when she heard travel requests were being “routinely denied.”

At that point, Cahnmann said, no one informed her of the $200,000 in venture funds the University set aside for faculty travel this year.

“Had I known, maybe I would have still made the trip,” she said in a telephone interview Friday. “The conference organizer was outraged (that I canceled).”

“It was an embarrassing situation,” for both herself and for the University, she said.

At a budget forum held Tuesday, Mace said he spends two to three hours per day combing through faculty travel requests, Frick said. Mace would make about $35 per hour to review travel requests, based on his 2007 salary of $309,300.

“We’re paying this man money . to read these,” said Bonnie Cramond, an educational psychology professor, in a telephone interview Friday. “I think Georgia taxpayers would be a little more concerned about that waste of money.”

The College of Education has received fewer complaints from faculty than other colleges have, said Associate Dean Cheri Hoy in a telephone interview Friday.

“It’s been relatively quiet,” Hoy said. “Faculty don’t necessarily like (the changes), but they understand why there has to be greater clarity around travel.”

Most professional conferences for College of Education faculty occur in the spring, Hoy said, which may be the reason for fewer complaints.

“We have some who are upset, but it doesn’t seem to be the same level of frustration I’m hearing in other colleges,” she said.

In contrast, Franklin College faculty listservs are buzzing with agitated posts from faculty denied travel authorities.

“I go to conferences every year,” a professor wrote. “It is a way to see what’s happening in the field…and, frankly, just keep my name and face out there for upcoming projects.

“It’s demoralizing to have all these extra rules,” Frick wrote, “…which makes it seem that travel to conferences is extravagant, rather than part of our jobs we have to do.”

But professors are not the only ones impacted by travel restrictions. Graduate students and assistant professors depend on conferences to launch their careers.

“I’m a full professor, and I’m tenured,” Cramond said. “If I don’t go to these meetings, my life isn’t going to just stop. But if you’re an assistant professor or a graduate student looking to go out into the field, it’s the kiss of death.”

Cramond submitted a travel request for the third time last week to attend a conference at which she would represent the University as a board member. “Mine bounced back twice,” she said, because she had not included sufficient details on how she would handle her teaching and advising duties while away.

“I found that just a slap in the face,” she said. “I don’t understand why we keep getting this message that we have to explain ourselves as if (the administration) doesn’t understand what we do.”

Department heads should fight for their employees to be able to travel, Cramond said. “What would it do to a level one research University to not have people represented at major conferences?”

“(The administration) tells us the mission of the University is to create a global environment,” she said. “How do you do that within the boundaries of Georgia?”