President’s Message — March 13, 2009


Dear members of the university community.

This week I led a very strong delegation of FIU supporters to Tallahassee to personally champion the critical role our university plays in this community and the State of Florida. The 2009 FIU Day in Tallahassee delegation, consisting of students, faculty representatives, administrators, trustees, alumni and other friends of the university, made the case for the most minimal cuts possible for the university and continued funding for the FIU College of Medicine.

I believe I speak for the delegation when I say that we felt very well received by the legislators we met. However, it is clear that we face intense competition for every dollar. As you know, in addition to trying to preserve university operating dollars, we are seeking $11 million in third year start-up funding for our College of Medicine. This funding is critical to our success and is in accordance with the plan approved by the Board of Governors and the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, which accredits medical schools.

We were gratified to find strong support for FIU in general and in particular for keeping the College of Medicine on track. Having said that, the concern given the current economic climate was palpable. While the College of Medicine enjoys strong bi-partisan support, the State is facing a possible $6.5 billion revenue shortfall. The next revenue estimating conference is taking place today and expectations are that it will reveal a revenue shortfall greater than anticipated. Legislative leaders are actively looking for other sources of revenue such as the Federal stimulus bill and a possible cigarette tax, for example.

At FIU Day, FIU fielded multiple teams of advocates, including students, who did an outstanding job of representing our university. Our group met with Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, House Speaker Larry Cretul, Senate President Jeff Atwater and the Appropriations Committee chairmen of the House and Senate respectively, Rep. David Rivera, Rep. Marcelo Llorente and Sen. JD Alexander. We also spent very productive time with Rep. Anitere Flores, whose district includes University Park, and Rep. Juan Carlos Zapata, who chairs the Miami-Dade delegation, among others.

FIU Day in Tallahassee was capped by a reception for more than 200 friends of FIU, including many members of the South Florida legislative delegations and legislators from around the state. The reception was sponsored by FIU Foundation Board of Directors Chairman Joe Caruncho.

I have returned to South Florida feeling more confident than ever that part of the solution to our present economic problems lays right here on our campus. Next week, for example, we will announce a recently completed economic impact study on our College of Medicine. I think you will be impressed with the number of jobs that this single initiative may create. As President Barack Obama indicated in his speech about education this week, education and universities, in particular, need to be treated for what they are: powerful economic engines.

For the latest information from Tallahassee, please visit FIU’s Governmental Relations website at http://government.fiu.edu/

Town Hall meeting

While we fight for funding in Tallahassee, closer to home we continue to mitigate university budget shortfalls through strategic rather than across-the-board cuts. Earlier this week, we had our first Town Hall meeting of the year, which was attended by more than 600 of you at University Park, with many others participating remotely from Biscayne Bay.

The meeting included an in-depth review of our strategy, its rationale and next steps. We continue to be guided by these basic tenets: Budget planning must be done, as a university, in at least three-year cycles, the process needs to be transparent and well communicated, and the cuts should be made by the deans and their departments rather than at the executive level.

Here is a brief overview of the cuts we are facing: Based on an estimated state budget shortfall of 15 percent in general revenue and the reduction of Lottery funds, we are planning for an additional cut in state appropriations in FY 09-10 of $33.7 million. This comes after the University already assumed a $24.2 million cut over the last two years.

Once expenses associated with unfunded obligations and critical investments are offset with tuition revenue and university-wide mitigation strategies, the resulting FY 09-10 budget gap is $34.6 million or 11.5 percent. Since the units already considered, within their original three year plans, cuts of $23.2 million or 7.4, percent in FY 09-10, an additional reduction of $11.4 million, or 4.1 percent will be necessary.

Since the University is following a rolling three-year planning process, by FY 11-12 the cuts beyond the original plans will be $17.6 million or 6.6 percent. By the end of this period we would have absorbed a cumulative $53.3 million budget reduction.

To those of you who attended Monday’s Town Hall meeting, thank you. It is only through the thoughtful engagement of the entire FIU community that we will emerge from these turbulent times stronger than before.

I hope to see you at our next Town Hall meeting on April 17, 2009.

The PowerPoint presentation from Monday’s meeting is available at http://newsarchives.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/townhall_march_9_2009-final-without-backuppptx.pdf

Thank you for your hard work and support of our university.

Modesto A. Maidique

President

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