UW-Madison's share of a $6.9 million proposed budget cut to the UW System is $2.6 million for this fiscal year, according to John Torphy, UW-Madison vice chancellor for administration.
The cuts, in addition to a $17 million cut to UW-Madison last spring, were prompted by an announcement last week by Gov. Jim Doyle that Wisconsin's budget deficit had more than doubled from previous expectations. A special session of the Legislature will meet in the near future to consider Doyle's proposal.
Doyle specified that the proposed cuts be restricted to administrative, rather than instructional or research related costs.
\We'll be making sure that, for state tax dollars, there are in fact reductions in travel, particularly out of state travel, advertising, printing and any kind of related administrative expenses that can be deferred or eliminated at this time,"" Torphy said.
No layoffs are expected as a direct result of the latest cuts, according to Torphy, but this is due to much preparation by administrators. Many positions on campus have been, and will remain, vacant in order to reduce personnel costs which will alleviate some of the burden of the cuts.
""My expectation is that we'll be able to use salary savings that we've already made due to holding vacancies that are open on the probability that there would be budget reductions in 2003-'04',"" Torphy said.
Phil Certain, dean of the College of Letters and Science, said that even though the cuts are restricted to administrative costs, the impact of Wisconsin's budget problems will be felt by students in the long term.
""The administration at the university does interact with students, for example, student advisors,"" he said. ""There will be some effects, but it is still difficult to predict what the effect will be on students' lives.""
Doyle will announce his budget proposal for the 2003-05' biennium on Feb. 18 and Torphy said he sees more budget cuts on the horizon.
According to Certain, the university cannot sustain this continual budget slashing, but administrators are doing their best to ensure that core educational courses are not affected.
""We're going to do the best we can to protect our undergraduates,"" he said. ""The highest priority we should have for undergraduates ... is to protect courses for first year students.""
However, Certain said that the fiscal problems plaguing UW-Madison are shared by universities across the country.
""We are not alone in this,"" he said. ""Most states are facing similar problems. Everybody is suffering right now.\
