UA faculty condemn legislature's budget plan

In a statement released yesterday via e-mail, Likins stated that he will fight the legislature's plan and called for public support of the state's higher education institutions.

"I want everyone on campus to share my confidence that the most destructive elements of the budget proposed by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee will not survive in the budget finally adopted in spring," Likins wrote. "I am determined to avoid the onerous cuts proposed for our faculty payroll."

The JLBC plan, released Tuesday, recommends that the state university budget lose $15.4 million - forcing the University of Arizona to cut $6.6 million and jeopardize about 90 faculty positions.

State Sen. Randall Gnant (R-Scottsdale), the appropriations committee chairman, said the state needs the UA's help to balance the budget.

"Budgets that haven't been looked at in seven years now have to be looked at," Gnant said last night from Phoenix. "The universities aren't exempt from that."

Faculty Chairman Jerrold Hogle condemned statements in the legislature's proposal that call for teachers to suck up the budget crisis by putting in longer hours.

"It doesn't seem to me that it's a fair or accurate assessment of what our workload is now," Hogle said last night.

Gnant said asking professors to spend a little more time in front of the class to save a lot of money is reasonable.

"The average professor is spending six hours per week in the classroom," Gnant said. "We understand that they do other things, but we're suggesting that they would spend 18 more minutes in the classroom to help us balance the budget."

If the JLBC's proposal is passed, Hogle said the UA would cut funds that pay for substitute faculty or money designated for appointed faculty members. He added, however, that funding cuts could put some teaching positions at risk.

"My guess would be that people who are not tenured appointments might have to be laid off," he said. "It's a possibility."

But Gnant was quick to say that the legislature did not suggest layoffs in its proposal.

"We haven't said that anyone has to be laid off," he said. "We're not suggesting that at all."

Hogle said he would address the legislature's proposal during his speech to the Faculty Senate on Monday, adding that he is "heartened" by Likins' statement.

"We thank him for carrying the banner for the faculty and the university," Hogle said.

Jeffrey Warburton, presiding officer of the UA Faculty Senate, said yesterday that the Senate is aware of the situation but will not take formal action at Monday's meeting.

"We're aware of what's going on," said Warburton, a theater arts professor. "We don't want to jump to conclusions."

Warburton said the Senate is "concerned" and members will talk with Arizona legislators about the budget proposal.

"We don't want to step backwards in time," he said.

Susan Heckler, secretary of the faculty, yesterday called the proposal "frustrating."

"People in the legislature who would suggest such a thing don't have a clear understanding of what we do and how hard we work," said Heckler, a marketing professor.