This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Faculty, staff asked for advice on cost cutting

  • “We welcome any idea, big or small.”

    Strategic Financial Advisory Committee
By ARTHUR PAGE
Published: September 17, 2008

Do you have suggestions on how UB can reduce costs? How can UB improve efficiency or eliminate waste? How can the university generate more revenue?

Members of the university community are being asked to provide suggestions on these and other important budget-related topics by the committee advising UB’s leadership on how to deal with anticipated cuts in state funding.

The vehicle for the input is a new Web site at http://www.buffalo.edu/ub2020/financecommittee/form.html.

And the deadline for suggestions is short.

The Strategic Financial Advisory Committee would like input as soon as possible since it plans to present initial suggestions to Provost Satish K. Tripathi by early October.

“We’re welcoming all members of the UB community to share your suggestions about reducing costs, improving efficiency and increasing revenues,” says a statement from the 13-member committee consisting of faculty, staff and students, on the Web site. “We welcome any idea, big or small. It could be about your unit, or another unit, or about the entire university.”

The committee was created in August by Tripathi and President John B. Simpson after it was learned that SUNY and UB would face an additional 7 percent cut in state funding on top of 3 percent enacted earlier this year as Gov. David A. Paterson and the State Legislature worked to cut $1 billion from the state budget to cope with a $5.4 billion deficit projection. The state’s predicament is likely to become even more dire with the current problems on Wall Street; bonuses for Wall Street employees alone supply 15 percent of the state’s tax revenue.

In an email to the UB Community on Tuesday, Tripathi, also executive vice president for academic services, noted that while the university doesn’t know the amount that UB’s state funding will be reduced, “we expect it to be very significant.”

As the result of a day-long meeting of the university’s senior leadership on Friday, he said the 45-day moratorium on hiring and purchases over $5,000 announced in August has been extended for three more weeks, until Oct. 15. “This extension,” he added, “will provide additional time to learn more about the budgetary impact so we can make informed decisions.”

Tripathi said that as a result of his consultation with the advisory committee, the Faculty Senate and deans and vice presidents, who have provided input from faculty and staff, “two very important principles for dealing with this budgetary challenge have emerged.”

He noted: “It is imperative that we maintain our long-term vision for UB as a premier public research university and that we align reductions and investments to our institutional strategic priorities.” The second principle, he said, is “we must protect our core educational and research mission.”

Tripathi said UB’s senior leadership agreed at Friday’s meeting “that our UB 2020 vision of academic excellence must be preserved; our dedication to providing the best education to our undergraduate, graduate and professional students must not be compromised; and the full potential of our research program must be realized.”

As a result, he noted, “selective budgetary reductions – rather than across-the-board reductions – will be designed with these principles and mandates as our guide.”

Tripathi added: “I firmly believe that because of our UB 2020 transformational initiatives, the prudent use of university resources and the strategic investment in the academic priorities of our university, we are in a favorable position to respond to this situation. I am not saying this will be easy, it will not be. Nonetheless, our success in responding thoughtfully and strategically to this situation as a university community clearly reflects our collective commitment to ensuring that important decisions – across our university - are aligned with our strategic priorities. “