『申了Rutgers的筒子们注意』Rutgers Budget Cut from the President

alexanderheUID: 2491856

Members of the Rutgers Community:

Yesterday Governor Christie presented his budget proposal for fiscalyear 2010-11. The governor’s plan addresses a multi-billion-dollar structural deficit in the state budget through funding cuts in manyareas, including state executive departments and aid to public schools,towns, and colleges. For example, the governor’s proposed budget reduces school aid by $819 million, municipal aid by $445 million, and aid to higher education by $173 million.

Under this proposal, Rutgers’ direct state operating aid in 2010-11 would be cut 15.1 percent and therefore would be $46.6 million lower than the university’s original appropriation for the current fiscalyear. In actual dollars, Rutgers’ operating aid would be the lowest theuniversity has received since 1994. The governor’s proposed budget alsodoes not provide funding for the salary increases that were negotiatedbetween Rutgers and its bargaining units last year.

In addition, the proposed state budget reduces funding for Tuition AidGrants and the Educational Opportunity Fund and does not providefunding for incoming freshmen in the NJ STARS scholarship program.

Given the depth of the state’s fiscal crisis, these budget cuts are nota surprise. Indeed, Governor Christie made clear when he visited theNew Brunswick campus last fall that the state’s fiscal problems wouldmake a cut in higher education funding unavoidable. It will,nonetheless, be very difficult for Rutgers to absorb these proposedreductions, following so many years of state budget cuts, including the $18.5 million midyear rescission the governor announced last month.

Managing the proposed reductions will require greater efficiencies,hard choices, and shared sacrifice. We are firmly committed topreserving the academic core of the institution and to the delivery ofoutstanding instruction to our students, recognizing that this is madepossible by the hard work of all our faculty and staff. We also knowthat we cannot solve the problem by transferring the burden of thesecuts primarily to our students and their families. In the weeks ahead,as the state budget is deliberated and finalized in Trenton, we willformulate our responses inclusively, and with a primary focus onprotecting Rutgers’ core missions and values. Beginning tomorrow, Iwill convene the university’s senior leadership to lay out plans tomeet this challenge.

As we make difficult decisions on our campuses, Rutgers will alsocontinue to make its case assertively in Trenton. We will inform policymakers that while public universities across America face cuts in themidst of a global recession, New Jersey is among the three states thathave seen the greatest losses in state higher education appropriationsper full-time equivalent student over the past five years. We willpoint out that funding higher education is an investment that driveseconomic expansion and opportunity; indeed, we are an essential part ofthe process of stimulating needed job growth that the governor andlegislature must develop.

The governor has also proposed to merge Rutgers with Thomas EdisonState College, stating that “the combination will allow newclassroom-based services for students in Trenton, while leveraging thetwo institutions’ distance learning programming.” Under thisunsolicited proposal, Rutgers also would take over the operations ofthe State Library and State Museum. Rutgers appreciates the confidenceexpressed in us by the governor’s proposal, and we will explore howthese excellent institutions could be aligned with Rutgers tostrengthen and enhance the missions of all. However, the task ofvetting this proposal and performing due diligence will requireconsultation within and beyond the university community and wouldultimately require approval by our boards of governors and trustees.

Rutgers’ enormous budget challenges will call on all of us to work evenharder to sustain the high-quality education and cutting-edge researchthat our faculty provides and the supportive environment for learningand scholarship that our staff ensures. As our record numbers ofapplications and enrollments attest, the public has recognized theuniversity’s success in preparing students to contribute significantlyto our state and the world. The extraordinary record we have achievedin winning grants to support our research attests to ourcompetitiveness on a global scale. In the months ahead we will all bechallenged to sustain what Rutgers has become—and that can only beachieved by our working together. I ask, and I know I can count on,your help.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

笑看红尘UID: 2280977

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alexanderheUID: 2491856

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小米姐姐UID: 2517215

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toby677UID: 2598798

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ronaldo17UID: 2508637

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