March 13, 2008

Faculty and staff who attended the university’s recent Town Hall meetings are aware of the critical funding situation faced by FIU. It is part of a broader budget crisis being felt by the entire state and something the Florida Legislature is grappling with currently.

In our efforts to communicate the latest budget developments here and in Tallahassee in a timely manner, the university will begin publishing the faculty/staff newsletter weekly rather than bi-monthly effective immediately. For the duration of the Legislative session, our newsletter’s traditional content of university news, sports and calendar events will be suspended in favor of budget news only. We are making this temporary change because we believe that more timely information on a topic of such critical importance will benefit the entire university community and help to continue the university’s forward momentum.
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In This Issue:

Dear Members of the FIU Community,

Below is the text of remarks I delivered during our Town Hall meetings on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, at Biscayne Bay Campus and University Park. While it is not verbatim, the text captures the key points regarding the State’s financial situation and its impact on FIU.

As you know, the outcome of the budget process will have a real and significant impact on the way we conduct business at FIU in the coming months and years. As together we work through the current financial situation, I will provide you a series of weekly updates. Please look for these on Thursdays.

I invite you to send me an email with your feedback to presoff@fiu.edu.

Town Hall meeting - March 4, 2008

Thank you for coming. I am glad that I am able to address you today and bring you up to date on our current state budget situation.

Today we are facing a difficult quandary. In the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” So it is for us.

It is the best of times because we see the results of our hard work over the past two decades as together we build one of the nation’s top urban public research universities.

It is the best of times because just last month, our College of Medicine received preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and we are on track to welcome our first class of medical students in Fall 2009.

It is the best of times because our College of Law continues to prove wrong the naysayers who opposed it. Last year, it received its first ranking in U.S. News & World Report, welcomed its largest class ever, and ranked second in the state in passage of the Bar Exam—ahead of several older, established law schools.

However, it is also the worst of times because current and proposed State budget cuts are jeopardizing our hard work. Over two fiscal years – this year and next – Florida International University is facing potentially $30.5 million in budget cuts, almost 14 percent of our base budget.

It is the worst of times because this fall FIU will be forced to turn away students who have a solid B+ and who scored well over a 1,000 on the SAT. But these enrollment reductions are still not enough to battle the looming budget cuts. Enrollment caps and tuition increases alone will not solve the problem. In fact, the magnitude of the cuts is so severe that we could not balance the shortfall even if we increased tuition by as much as 50 percent.

Some of you might say we have been in these circumstances before. I will tell you that this is the first time that we have encountered such a dire situation. But, we are not alone. Every university in the SUS is facing similar cuts. Thirty-two other states are experiencing similar cuts to higher education budgets in the face of a national recession.

As the revenue decline in Florida became apparent, I immediately convened a Budget Stabilization Task Force, made up of representatives from the administration, the faculty and our student body, to monitor developments and review our options. This group has provided feedback on our analyses of operations, ways to increase revenue, and cost-saving ideas.

It is clear that in view of the financial cuts we must contemplate, everything must be on the table. These cuts could affect everything from our academic programs to non-academic operating activities. We could be forced to shut down colleges, schools, departments programs, centers and institutes.

• survive the current budget crisis without doing any permanent strategic damage to the university;
• roll out our life sciences initiative successfully;
• improve the quality of undergraduate education and, thus, increase graduation and retention rates;
• continue on the path to become a top-fifteen, public, urban, research university by 2015;
• galvanize the student life experience, energize student spirit, and invigorate alumni excitement; and
• restructure our advancement function in preparation for a major capital campaign.

Our intent is to protect core academic programs and our faculty and staff who have worked so hard to make FIU a great university.

For a public university, any major change takes time. We are working on a multi-faceted plan that considers short-term and long-term cuts while protecting the university’s strategic imperatives. Rest assured that we will make the cuts in a way that are consistent with our strategic direction.

In order to meet these cuts, however, it will not be business as usual. These looming budget cutbacks will force us to make difficult decisions for both the short term and long term. It is our goal to emerge from this stronger and more focused.

It is important for the Legislature to understand that funding our state universities is an investment in Florida’s future. Strong public universities are critical to the economic development of our state. They help to attract and retain businesses, improve the quality of life in our communities, and help our young people realize their aspirations for themselves and their families. Our College of Medicine, for example, is expected to create thousands of new jobs and have a billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County. It will eventually contribute tens of millions to state coffers every year and address a critical doctor shortage.

These budget cuts are threatening to undo the progress we have made as a university and to jeopardize the quality of the education we offer to our students.

As informed private citizens, and on your own private time, you may wish to make sure our legislators know what is at stake as they make economic decisions that will have a negative impact on our university and our community’s future.

We are in this together because we all care deeply about FIU. For me, as for many of you, working for FIU has been a labor of love. I have spent the majority of my working years pursuing the dream of building a great public university for South Florida.

Overcoming the challenges we face requires that we work creatively and collaboratively to preserve our core mission. I know that together we will weather this crisis and emerge as a stronger university for our community.