At yesterday's Faculty Senate meeting at the Colonnade Club, University President John. T. Casteen III expressed support for faculty in his budget update and University Provost Gene Block revealed some of his goals for this year.
Casteen said Gov. Mark R. Warner's budget cut announcement on Oct. 15 will provide statewide projections, not definite numbers.
It will take universities a few days to determine how the statewide trends will specifically affect them, he said.
Warner "may reveal the pattern of how he's going to spread the cuts and what programs will close," Block said. "The University will have a fairly good idea. But it is possible that the legislature may ask Warner to make additional cuts later."
Casteen emphasized that faculty is the University's most important resource, and the administration is working to avoid layoffs.
"The asset we have to preserve most is faculty," he said.
He added that the hiring freeze remains a key concern.
"We're also watching the accumulation of unfilled positions," Casteen said. "I've heard estimates between 45 and 70."
The general state of the economy is such that it could take three or four years for the University to recover, "assuming that recovery starts in the next 18 months," Casteen said.
One consolation is donor money, which added $255 million to the University's coffers last year.
To generate more, Casteen said he will send out a letter to alumni requesting donations, and will try to increase the number of annual gifts that the University can use for any purpose.
The tuition surcharge that Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will set promises to be a big boost as well, Casteen said, because each $100 increase in tuition will generate $1.6 million for the University.
Casteen also defended construction of the new athletic arena.
"We restricted funding for the arena all through the '90s, and we persuaded donors with an interest in athletics to support other things," Casteen said. "Now the current facility is worn out, loaded with asbestos and has structural problems. So the question is not do you replace it but when do you replace it."
As a self-sustaining entity, the athletics department has its own budget and covers all its costs.
By state law, tax money and tuition cannot be used to support intercollegiate athletics.
In other plans, Block said he is looking forward to making revisions in the administration's department evaluations and to working to pay for the cost of living and education for graduate students.
He also is considering instituting a faculty retirement plan.
"We would like to try to have everyone paid for, because graduate students teach and work on grants," Block said. "Schools like Princeton can offer graduate students up to $20,000 a year, and right now we often can't afford to compete."
University Librarian Karin Wittenborg reported good news at the meeting, despite the $2 million cut from the library budget this year.
For example, the library's decision to discontinue free printing has saved $200,000, Wittenborg said.
In addition, the Law Library has agreed to pay for the University's subscription to JSTOR, a popular online database that costs $17,000 a year.
Book-buying, however, will be a great challenge, associate librarian Diane Walker said.
The University libraries bought 45,000 books last year, and will be able to afford about 30,000 this year.
Walker said that digitizing texts, images and other information to place on the Internet will be a high priority despite the cuts.
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