KU in the Capitol: Year marked by nearly $19 million in budget cuts

Budget cuts this year have forced the University to eliminate 159 positions, including 44 layoffs, and reduced its total budget by $18.8 million, a 7.7 percent cut.

And for the first time since 1972, the University could not grant regular annual salary increases.

"The consequences for KU have been severe but not fatal," said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "In addition to the layoffs and position eliminations, thermostats are set lower, library hours are shorter, faculty are handling their own clerical duties and our building maintenance backlog continues to grow."

This month, the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., instituted a 90-day hiring delay and reviews of all equipment purchases. KU also canceled its 2003 Wheat State Whirlwind Tour, a popular weeklong statewide bus tour, funded by state and private funds, that introduces new KU faculty and staff to Kansas.

In addition to cutting staff positions and operating budgets, KU has reduced, phased out or reorganized several units. A Kansas Geological Survey statistical research unit has been phased out, and the Museum of Anthropology public exhibition space, an on-campus office supply store and an asbestos abatement unit have been closed. State funding for the Paleontological Institute has been eliminated. The Lawrence campus initiated a voluntary leave-without-pay program for staff.

The University's Medical Center campus in Kansas City and the School of Medicine campus in Wichita eliminated positions, closed two programs, cut operating and equipment funds, and reduced library hours by two hours daily. The physical therapy program in Pittsburg and the nursing neonatal intensive care master's degree program have been closed.

"If there is further erosion of our base budget, if no new state funds are provided, and if our faculty and staff don't see a salary increase, frankly, the results then will be much more dire," Hemenway said.

Public higher education is a major economic resource for Kansas, in good times or bad, he said.

"Everyone who cares about the future of our state has to be concerned about what's happening to education funding," he said.

"The universities can help Kansas bounce back from this recession. It will be harder to do that if we're not given the tools we need. That's the message I will be sharing with the Legislature and Governor Sebelius all through the next legislative session."

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