The Faculty Senate will hear today from faculty and staff members concerned about the 2 percent budget cuts academic departments faced this year.

The Committee of Eleven, a group of elected faculty members, will discuss their concerns on the across-the-board budget cuts during the Faculty Senate meeting.

The committee released a three-page report in July 2004 outlining its concerns. In the report, the committee characterized the cuts as devastating and "a major step backward" for the university.

In the report, the committee said it was disappointed the UA was not competing with major universities for undergraduate instructors.

"We had assumed that the huge tuition increases over the last two years together with continuing growth in the research enterprise would enable us to move forward," the report stated.

The committee chastised the UA in the report for unnecessary capital investments, deficits in several departments, poor investment strategy and lack of new research initiatives.

The report offers a basic breakdown of the 2005 fiscal year budget, detailing why the UA had to implement the 2 percent cuts, totaling $6.4 million.

According to the Committee of Eleven Web site, the committee initiates, promotes, and stimulates study and action dealing with and looking toward the solution of situations and problems of interest and concern to the faculty and the university. The committee speaks for the general faculty when authorized to do so, according to the Web site.

The Faculty Senate is also scheduled to receive an update on the restructuring within the university.

The Faculty Senate will meet at 3 p.m. in the James E. Rogers College of Law building, Room 146. The meeting is expected to last two hours.