UF trustees OK $47-mil in cuts, lament 'brain drain'

UF trustees this morning approved president Bernie Machen's plan for $47-million in cuts, including program eliminations and the elimination of 430 staff and faculty positions, 290 of them already vacant.

Trustees did restore a couple of faculty spots in the liberal arts college, said spokesman Steve Orlando. But they expressed great concern about a "brain drain" of top faculty and staff -- a valid concern considering UNC administrators recently said publicly that now is the best time to poach from top Florida institutions like UF.

Already UF is losing its main IT guy, Mark Hoyt, to NC State, Orlando said. And the law school is losing at least one faculty member. FSU has seen similar losses, and administrators fear the exodus will only continue as the budgets grow leaner.

Comments

[Chris]

The University of Florida Athletic Department has been recognized as one of the most profitable NCAA institutions in the last 10 years. Maybe Jeremy Foley will be generous enough to make a hefty donation out of the coffers that built that addition to The Swamp.

I love the athletic programs as much as anyone else, but the department could do more for the school, and most of the players aren't doing much for the university outside of the sports arena. Only about half of the football players had above a 3.0 GPA this year, and the team's average was 2.86.

Considering I worked 60 hours a week to put myself through school at Florida and graduated with honors, so I have little sympathy for them and would love to see the department give back. Here's a great opportunity.

[Simon]

One more battle won in Florida's war on education. You guys are going to win this thing!

[Paul]

For the ignorant:

Football pays for itself, as well as many athletic programs that cannot.

to 4:18

and how does football contribute to education?

[Jay]

Mark Hoyt is NOT their top IT guy, he is the webmaster. He is, however, the one most likely to tell people he is the top guy.

[concerned Gator and teacher.]

When will the concerned parents, citizens and stakeholders of Florida stand up and say enough is enough?!? It will
take years to recover from this legislative disaster. The blame is 100% of the FLA Legislature... And our esteemed " education" Governor Charlie! Our state is a joke with it's priorities. If you put less into education... Then you do wind adding more prisons. Florida's kids deserve better... They are our greatest asset. UF and all the other state colleges will be hit hard by these cuts along with the public school systems. Vote out the idiots who approved this budget.

Memo to Jay: You don't cut things that make money, Einstein.

Just because there UF has approved the budget cuts of its President doesn't mean that the caliber of education sets back. Froth and waste shows up in everything, and universities are certainly guilty of gluttony.

And on the Legislature front, the rising cost of education, nationally and at every level, is something that stretches beyond government controls. However the state should audit itself more thoroughly and frequently and exercise the discipline to stick to a budget and not enter into ever-increasing tuition hikes based on things like never cutting state university budgets, or never slowing the rate of their increase.

And while UF will never be like Duke or UNC, it certainly isn't going anywhere close to down to someplace from where it never recovers. What, UF would be Duke if only they hadn't lost their IT guy, one law school professor and some staff? Comparing noncomparables here.

Bottom line is that every entity, public or private, experiences circumstances that require budget cuts, and the nature of budget cuts does not equate to anything bad in the first place. Most of the time, institutions or companies end up benefitting from apt leadership who implements scaled back budgets. Educators and administrators and staff may dislike it for employment reasons, but the univeristy will be fine, and come out with a finer focus. Besides, last time I checked, most people coming out of HS in FL want to go to UF first and foremost. So the demand isn't going anyplace, and neither is the flow of talented students, which is the most important thing a university realizes, not staff reductions.

[Jay]

Cut the football progams. You go to college to learn not to play football.

[Jack]

FloriDUH! I moved to Chapel Hill from Tampa 2 yrs. ago. We have UNC,
Duke, NC State (one of the finest vet schools in the nation), Wake Forest, Davidson, to name a few. The governor just announced that Spirit AeroSystems will build a plant in Kinston with an AVERAGE salary of $70,000. Why? Because NC has always put an emphasis on education. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

[Dr_Dug]

Why don't they stop the "Double Dippers" to get more cash? Or better yet, make the double dippers work 15 hour days!!

Nice cuts! We need more artists, musicians and ditch diggers.

[kidreadytogotocollege]

Sad. Florida will always be left behind.
Exodus form the best institution in Florida. Sad, sad. Somehow we have money for more prisons. I guess we will need more prisons since Florida will have less educated people.

[Alex]

UF, FSU and USF will never recover from this.

Faculty will not go to places where they can be cut during the next dead-brain legislative session.

[John]

Just make sure you put the blame where it belongs. Square on the shoulders of those overpaid and underworked professors and not the legislators who work hard for 6 weeks and know all the answers and have access to all the money (tax dollars) and can increase the lowest tuition in the nation by 6% and pay education researchers to 'prove' whatever they want.

[Todd UF 93]

This is sad to see. Just when UF was making progress into becoming a Real Elite University. This does not bode well.