Cuts reflect realities, not priorities

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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A lot of outrage has been directed at University of Northern Iowa President Benjamin Allen in recent days, as the school leader and his administrators wrestle with deep budget cuts that are sure to have long-standing and far-reaching effects on the school.

Officials struggling to make up a $5 million budget deficit have proposed cutting, suspending or restructuring dozens of the school's less-popular academic programs and majors.

An official announcement is expected this week; leaked draft documents already have caused an uproar in the UNI community.

In anticipation of the cuts, last week UNI faculty passed a vote of no confidence in Allen and Provost Gloria Gibson. Faculty members told reporters they felt administrators are wrong to close Price Lab School, that they aren't doing enough to protect the institution's academic integrity, or to involve faculty in discussions over cuts.

But fiscal realities, not misplaced priorities, are to blame for the proposal.

As the state's smallest Regents university, with a high in-state student population and few opportunities for outside research dollars, UNI is the proverbial canary in the coal mine - a stark example of what happens when legislators starve the state's institutions of higher learning of much-needed funding.

Although school leaders caution that no final decision has been made, a draft document leaked to media Tuesday shows more than 60 programs targeted for possible elimination or restructuring include such staples as geography, religion, philosophy and the teaching of English as a second language.

Administrators stress that the hope that by offering buyouts to tenured faculty in targeted programs, they will be able to minimize involuntary layoffs. Students already enrolled in targeted programs would be allowed to finish their course of study.

Faculty, student and staff frustration is understandable, but it's certainly not Allen's fault that UNI has lost about $24 million to state budget cuts in recent years.

Nor is the school alone. Either legislators step up funding or Iowans can expect more dramatic cuts to academic institutions.

As Allen wrote in an open letter last week: “While we all would like to see the funding of our state universities return to previous levels, we cannot let the quality of our educational offering slip while we wait and hope for that to happen.”

Some worry the cuts will make UNI less attractive to potential students. That is a valid concern. But it doesn't change the harsh reality:

After many rounds of belt-tightening, even important programs and services must face the chopping block unless legislators offer some relief.

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