O'Bannon promises cuts

Gov. Frank O'Bannon's televised speech Thursday, which promised more cuts into higher education spending, will force IU to carefully examine how each dollar is spent, Interim Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Bill Stephan said.\n"We expect there will need to be additional belt tightening," Stephan said. "I think (IU President Myles) Brand has asked everyone to prepare for that."\nPotential state funding cuts in University maintenance could result in a reduction in services and elimination of jobs as a last resort. But it won't affect the academic side of the University, administrators said.\n"We want to work aggressively to protect academic units on campus," Stephan said. "We want to preserve investments on the academics side of this house."\nJudith Palmer, IU's chief financial officer, Terry Clapacs, vice president for administration and Brand will meet today to discuss the impact of O'Bannon's proposal on IU. Palmer has already been digesting the numbers, Stephan said Thursday, following O'Bannon's speech.\nBrand said the University recognizes the state's financial hardships and will work in unison toward an amenable resolution.\n"At IU, we will continue to do our part, while taking all steps necessary to protect our academic programs," Brand said in a statement following the speech. "As budget discussions go forward, we will keep making a strong, positive case for the long-term benefits of protecting the investments we have made in higher education."\nThe state is already deferring its December monthly payment of $35 million, a sizable chunk of the University's $436 million operating appropriation.\nO'Bannon's newest cuts would flatline university spending and reduce university operating budgets by $29 million for Fiscal Year 2003. Any plan must be approved by the State Legislature. \nO'Bannon paints a dreary picture if his proposals are rejected.\n"Public school teachers will be laid off. Class sizes will balloon. Much of the hard work we've done to provide high-quality education -- and hope for our future and our children -- will be undone," O'Bannon said\nIn September, Brand told the IDS that University officials were already reviewing consulting contracts and consolidating purchases of supplies across branch campuses.\n"We're going to watch our expenditures closely," Brand said. "We'll save money to make up for any losses. We don't want this to affect the academic side of the University."\nStephan said IU has been preparing for the economic setbacks. \n"I think we've been anticipating most of the year that unless the economy kicked back into high gear the state would be hard pressed to continue to keep the commitments that were part of the current budget," Stephan said. "We've been preparing for what we expected to be negative news"