Calling the additional budget cuts to the UW System proposed by the state Joint Finance Committee potentially \devastating"" and ""tragic,"" UW System President Katherine Lyall and UW System Board of Regents President Jay Smith told regents Thursday they must take action to denounce the cuts.
In a Board of Regents meeting that took a somber tone, Smith said the proposed budget cuts could force the UW System to cut enrollment next year by thousands of students.
""Let me be clear: When we are cut, our campuses bleed,"" Smith said. ""And their local economies feel the pain.""
Budget issues have been at the forefront of UW System concerns since January, when Gov. Scott McCallum announced his Budget Reform Act, a plan to remedy the $1.1 billion state deficit. His proposal mandated cuts to state agencies, including $50.5 million to the UW System.
On Wednesday, the Joint Finance Committee, in its review of the budget proposal, suggested cutting an additional $23 million from McCallum's already outlined cuts to state agencies.
Smith suggested the cuts to the UW System were disproportionate, saying a cut of $50.5 million accounts for 50 percent of the total cut to state agencies while the UW System makes up 37.5 percent of state operations.
The added burden proposed by the Joint Finance Committee would possibly necessitate another $8 million to $9 million reduction in the System budget, Smith said.
In addition to added budget cuts, the Joint Finance Committee suggested setting the UW System tuition increase cap at 8 percent rather than the 10 percent originally proposed by McCallum. This figure would mean an additional $10 million revenue loss for the System and force the university to refuse additional enrollment, Smith said.
Smith called on all regents to ""carry our message very clearly to friends in the Legislature.""
Regent Fred Mohs said, ""We were going to be good soldiers about this, ... [but] taking cuts without reducing quality is looking frankly impossible.""
Mohs reiterated the importance of protesting the cuts to the state Assembly, where the budget plan will go next, by calling on all chancellors to ""lay down whatever else you're doing"" and concentrate on the issue.
Lyall said reducing enrollment due to budget cuts would be ""devastating."" With fewer students, the local economy would lose revenue and the state would lose potential qualified graduates of the UW System, she said.
""[The UW System] is looked to ... as a critical resource, critical brainpower,"" Regent Robert Axtell said.
For that reason, he added, turning away qualified applicants would mean ""jeopardizing the economic future of the state.""
Lyall expressed gratitude for the regents' willingness to answer Smith's request for their active support.
""This is not going to be easy,"" she said, in reference to attempts to prevent further budget cuts. ""But it's the right thing to do.""
