Wiley says administration will absorb largest cuts

Administration at UW–Madison would absorb the largest portion of state budget cuts, under Chancellor John Wiley’s plan for how the campus will address cuts contained in Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget plan.

The governor’s plan cuts UW System by $250 million during the 2003-05 biennium, but allows it to recoup $150 million through tuition increases. That would leave UW–Madison with a $23 million cut in the first year of the biennium.

Administrative cuts account for $8.5 million, or 37 percent, of UW–Madison’s share of first-year state budget cuts. Eighty-eight administrative positions will be eliminated.

However, Wiley says the total cut is too large for UW–Madison to absorb without hampering its ability to fulfill its core mission.

“UW-Madison already has extremely low administrative costs compared to our peer institutions, and to further lower those costs, we are eliminating jobs and services,” Wiley says. “But no level of administrative reductions will allow us to avoid reductions in instruction and student services, statewide public service, and the university’s ability to attract federal and non-federal research dollars.”

The remaining $14.5 million that UW–Madison must cut in the first year of the biennium has been distributed to deans, directors and department heads, who are finalizing plans for how they will make cuts in their own areas. Wiley expects academic units to hold open or eliminate instructional and non-instructional positions; increase class size; cut funding for or close departments, centers, institutes and programs; and eliminate low-enrollment courses that are least critical to degree completion.

“Cuts by academic units will undoubtedly lead to more job reductions, especially when units are forced to eliminate departments and classes,” Wiley says. “We hope to be given the flexibility to manage all of our job reductions through attrition, but we can make no guarantees that there will be not be layoffs.”

Even though the cuts will impact virtually every aspect of campus life, Wiley says UW–Madison remains committed to being part of the solution to the state’s economic troubles.

He points out, however, that UW System is being asked to account for 38 percent of the cuts contained in the governor’s budget strategy, even though the system has gone from 14.4 percent to 8.8 percent of the state’s operating budget during the past 10 years. The governor’s cut would take the UW System down to about 7 percent of the state’s operating budget.

Wiley says because state dollars and tuition are what fund undergraduate education at UW–Madison, further cuts or less tuition flexibility could do irreparable harm to the university’s ability to educate.

“The state must leave the university strong enough in 2003-05 and reinvest in 2005-07 to ensure that UW–Madison remains a premier institution of higher learning and an economic engine for the state,” Wiley says.