Click here to view the University System of Georgia’s complete summary of reductions. UGA’s proposed cuts are on pages 1-9.

Reduce. Eliminate. Consolidate. Close.

These are the commands beginning almost every line item in the University’s budget reduction proposal, a plan to cut $60 million more from the University’s budget for fiscal year 2011. The University was already planning for a $44 million reduction in state appropriations, but a legislative committee directive last week left system presidents and officials frantically pushing through the weekend to compile a document outlining where additional cuts could be made.

“It’s kind of unthinkable,” said Tim Burgess, the University’s senior vice president for finance and administration. “It’s hard to think about the prospect of literally tearing the University apart from what it has come to be.”

The proposed cuts — though not yet approved by the Board of Regents — include 1,418 layoffs, 543 of which come from the non-contract instructional faculty. This is the same faculty the University has used to plug the gaps created by the school’s inability to hire as many full time professors.

“These are real people,” Burgess said. “These are people that are working for the University today that would not be here in July.”

According to the document, the elimination of these faculty would limit the number of course sections available and would force the University to reduce the incoming freshman class by 500 students and incoming transfer students by 1,000 “because seats in courses would not be available for them to complete their educations.”

“This action would delay the time to graduation for many students,” the document states.
Reductions to hours in student-centered buildings would also leave some students feeling the effects of the steep cuts.

The document outlines lessened hours in the Miller Learning Center, Main and Science Libraries, Tate Student Center and Ramsey Center — 30 percent reductions on all fronts.

“This is something that’s going to affect us quite suddenly and harshly,” said Danielle Timmons, a senior health promotions major. “Especially with studying and stress relief.”

Burgess said the sudden need to cut so drastically from the University’s budget forced administrators to consider the core mission of the institution. Though deans and department heads had drafted proposals for the smaller $44 million cut, administrators had just 48 hours to extrapolate from those plans and determine what else could go, while still retaining the central functions of the institution.

“It was a very stressful and very painful exercise to even talk about the things that are in there,” he said. “Not to mention layoffs.”

Layoffs in the Facilities Management Division would mean the loss of 25 percent of the custodial staff. One-fourth of campus facilities’ restrooms would not be cleaned regularly. Trash would be emptied once a month.

“They probably don’t need to be cleaned daily, but monthly is just ridiculous,” said Isaac Shiffman, a freshman from Harrisburg, Pa.

The plan also calls for eliminating academic programs. Though Burgess did not know which specific programs would get the ax, the proposal document states the program eliminations would force more than 500 students to change their majors or transfer to other institutions.

To protest the immense burden the legislature placed on higher education, the University’s Student Government Association is joining with campus leaders from across the state to protest the budget cuts.
This week, the student leaders will pull together a list of grievances related to the cuts to send lawmakers a united message of opposition.

“Higher education shouldn’t be the entire focus of raising revenue,” said Katie Barlow, SGA president. “Everybody’s in a very sticky situation politically, but none of that should matter. What should matter is quality.”

The student leaders will head to Atlanta Monday, March 15, to meet with representatives from the committee which ordered the cuts, and Barlow said SGA will provide busses for any students wishing to tag along. Altogether, Barlow said she expects more than 1,000 students from across Georgia to show up to protest.

“The perspective of the individual student is incredibly vast, even on this campus alone,” Barlow said. “People haven’t seen the line items that are coming out of the $60 million, and once they see that, they’re going to react.”

Barlow said the rally is designed to put a student face on the budget reduction issue.

“It’s not just education; that’s people’s lives and people’s jobs,” she said.

Even if it means increasing tuition, Barlow said it is important lawmakers and the University do everything they can to avoid cutting programs.

The proposed cuts are not prioritized on the list, and the chancellor specifically told officials to not consider tuition increases as they drafted their documents.

However, John Millsaps, spokesman for the Board of Regents, said tuition increases could be possible down the road.

The chancellor has said that a 77 percent tuition increase would be required to offset all of the additional cuts — totalling $300 million for the system as a whole.

“Obviously, the Regents are mindful of the pressure that tuition places on HOPE,” Millsaps said. “But they also have to make decisions based on the needs of the system and students.”

Announcements about tuition increases usually come in April, Millsaps said.

Although a 77 percent increase would be extreme, Barlow said shifting some of the burden to students could be a reasonable solution.

“It’s not that we’re against any tuition increase at all,” she said. “We understand the need for a tuition increase if we’re going to keep the quality and caliber of the University.”

Tonight, SGA is holding an informational meeting about the Atlanta rally at 7 p.m. in room 148 of the Miller Learning Center, and Barlow said students can reserve seats on SGA busses until Friday by visiting their Web site at http://uga.edu/sga.

—Tiffany Stevens and Adina Solomon contributed to this story.