Although Legislature will define exact amount, deans and administrators already making reductions

When the gavel drops this morning to open a special legislative session, it will mark the turning point of a budget-cutting process that will likely have wide-ranging impacts throughout the university.

When the session ends, the Legislature will have defined the University of Arizona's role in exactly how to offset a two-year, $1.56 billion state budget deficit.

Although UA administrators have been struggling to cut $13.9 million - or 4 percent of the university's operating budget - the Legislature could ask them to cut even more. When Republican Gov. Jane Dee Hull called for the 4 percent rescission on Sept. 5, she projected a state shortfall of $250 million in 2002, a number that has now grown to an estimated $650 million.

The knowledge that the cuts could grow larger has clouded the UA's budget-cutting process with uncertainty, since nobody really knows how large the 4 percent cuts may grow once the Legislature completes its special session.

Still, administrators and student lobbyists have stepped up a "no more than four" campaign, asking lawmakers not to increase the university's share in the cuts.

"In all of this, university administration will endeavor to protect the core strength of the institution by opposing any cut above 4 percent," stated a memo released by Janet Bingham, UA vice president for University Advancement, and Greg Fahey, associate vice president for University Advancement and the administrator responsible for lobbying the state government.

Although officials from UA President Peter Likins on down have said they recognize the need for universities to make contributions to the state's economy, the process of cutting just 4 percent has been such a controversial and difficult one that administrators are finding themselves less than $4 million closer to the nearly $14 million in cuts that have to be made.

That $4 million has come from a combined $1 million donation from Campaign Arizona, UA's $1 billion fund-raising campaign, as well as cuts made to the Integrated Learning Center and the proposed closure of the Arizona International College.

Officials struggle to make $10 million cut

But the search for the remaining $10 million has proven more trying than administrators had hoped.

Provost George Davis, who oversees all the university's colleges, met with each of the deans to discuss the possibilities for cuts and was responsible for submitting their final plans to Likin's cabinet and other administrative committees for approval.

Late last month, Likins, Davis and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Joel Valdez - the three top-ranking administrators at the university - released a statement saying the remaining $10 million would be cut by Nov. 5.

But UA Vice President for Executive Operations Patti Ota said the president's cabinet decided to delay the release of a complete plan until the Legislature makes its decision.

So while the Legislature debates UA's share in the budget cuts, deans and other administrators have begun the process of reducing their own budgets, with the knowledge that no one department will be completely spared.

"The most important effect in the College of Science · is to protect everything that I can," said Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the College of Science. "I have done that. The main problem that I have is going to be an incredibly reduced opportunity for new hires."

A 60-day hiring freeze Likins implemented Oct. 1 will prevent Ruiz, or any other administrator, from bringing on new faculty or staff until at least Dec. 1, and Likins has said he does not expect the freeze to end on that day.

"Come the first of December, there will be greater clarity," Likins said in an interview last month. "The freeze will change on December 1."

Still, about 85 percent of the university's budget funds personnel, and in many colleges, that number is 95 percent or more. Likins has said the most vulnerable faculty members are adjunct professors, many of whom have contracts that are renewable every semester and who "don't make a living working for us."

But fewer adjuncts will mean an increased teaching load for full-time faculty. In the College of Education, 47 temporary faculty will not be rehired in the spring, so regular faculty members will take over their classes, said John Taylor, dean of the College of Education.

Dr. Raymond Woosley, UA vice president for Health Sciences, said he is also trying to protect faculty members' jobs but acknowledged that certain operating expenses cannot be cut.

"We're trying very hard not to lay off any people," said Woosley, who took over as vice president the day Hull announced the cuts. "We could make cuts that could kill us. We need not to be hurt."

Both Woosley and incoming Dean of Medicine Dr. William Dalton, have said that collaboration among different university departments will be increasingly important under a tight budget. He said he is also hoping that community members will be more philanthropic toward the university in light of its tighter budget.

Exact impact remains uncertain

But until the Legislature and administration make their final decisions on the nature of the cuts, none of the colleges know exactly how hard they will be hit. Likins, however, has said that he opposes across-the-board cuts that would place an equal burden on each college.

Woosley agreed with Likins, calling this type of cuts "neither fair nor wise."

But if across-the-board cuts have been ruled out, somebody will have to be hit the hardest, and some deans have said that a cut larger than 4 percent could cause severe damage.

Ruiz has said that the worst-case scenario for his college is actually cutting departments - a situation that may become reality if he is asked to cut more than 8 percent of his budget.

He too has said he vehemently opposes across-the-board cuts, which he said would lead to mediocrity throughout the college.

Gene Sander, dean of the College of Agriculture and life sciences, agreed that an 8 percent cut would be devastating. Although he did not go far enough to say that it would force him to cut departments, he said that an 8 percent cut would likely force him to eliminate positions.

But Sander said his college is more flexible than most and that it would be easier for his professors to take on an additional workload than it would in other colleges.

Some classes will be cut

Less extreme than cutting entire departments or faculty members is cutting individual classes - a scenario that many deans said will become reality sooner rather than later. Likins, however, has said that elective courses will be cut first, and administrators will focus on making cuts in areas that will be least harmful to graduation requirements.

"You could, as students, either experience larger class sizes or (a class not being offered)," Likins said. But if it is determined that a large number of people need a course to graduate, "that would be a reason to keep a professor on the payroll.

"Frankly, I'm more concerned about freshmen than seniors," he said.

Education Dean Taylor agreed the cuts would have an impact on the number of classes his college could offer.

"We can't continue this without hurting our students," he said.

Taylor also said that many classes will be enlarged and moved to bigger rooms in other buildings.

Science Dean Ruiz said he wants to maintain a commitment to teaching but admitted that students will see an increase in the size of their labs. He, too, is looking for classes to cut but said the increased workload on his faculty will limit the number of courses that will need to be axed.

"We do not want to cut down significantly on the classes that we're teaching," he said.

Cyndy Cole and Daniel Scarpinato contributed to this report.