LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) — As the calendar ticks closer to the next University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting in December, professors and departments under threat of faculty and program cuts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are still pushing for more data and transparency from the administration.
The budget proposal by Chancellor Rodney Bennett would reduce the University’s budget by $27.5 million.
UNL faculty and an independent financial analyst from the American Association of University Professors presented a nearly 50-page analysis of the school’s finances over the last five years Wednesday, which highlights the university’s financial strength, among other things.
UNL, according to the study, is ranked in the top 8% of higher education institutions in the country for financial health.
And budget appropriations from the state of Nebraska have increased in recent years.
One key finding shows the instructional budget for the university only accounts for about 20% of the university’s overall budget — but nearly 70% of the proposed budget cuts.
“It appears that the administration is doubling-down on the recent history of deprioritizing instruction and the students at the institution,” said Dr. Bonnie Fox Garrity, AAUP financial analyst and professor of Business at D’Youville University in Buffalo, New York. “And it is time to defend that instruction and resist cuts that would undermine the educational mission.”
The analysis reveals other shifts still unexplained by university administrators – including the decline of full time instructional employees by almost 8% while non-instructional staff grew by almost exactly the same amount.
Plus, instructional salaries increased by 4.5%, while for non-teaching staff it was almost 32%, according to the study’s findings.
Professors at UNL said this sends a stark message about the school’s priorities.
And even those faculty and departments not yet under the microscope are feeling the effects.
“Because the metrics are unclear to us, we don’t know to what extent our programs might be targeted in the future,” said Kelsy Burke, a professor in the Sociology Department. “And that unstable ground for the future of the university is one that I think is really harmful.”
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