UVM’s Fogel says 2nd round of budget cuts may be postponed

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(Host) It’s possible that some of the proposed budget cuts at the University of Vermont could be postponed.

UVM president Daniel Fogel says he’s optimistic that the University may be able to avoid the second phase of cuts that are being considered to next year’s budget.

VPRs Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) Fogel has outlined a multi phase plan to help eliminate UVM’s projected $28 million budget deficit.

Phase one, which has been put into place, calls for a reduction of $15 million in UVM’s 2010 budget.  The cuts include laying off 16 full time employees and as many as 35 part time positions. UVM’s baseball and softball teams would also be eliminated under this plan.

Phase two calls for another $5 million in cuts by mid April.

Speaking on VPR’s Vermont Edition, Fogel said it might not be necessary to implement the second phase at this time:

(Fogel) "It’s quite possible that with the state getting help from federal stimulus dollars, with the welcome surplus of the Governor’s recommendation for an increase in funding for higher education in Vermont – that that gap will be much smaller than we thought when we went into this budget reconciliation exercise…and phase two we have deferred until mid spring when we have a better idea of how the revenue picture will shape up."

The UVM faculty union opposes the layoffs.

Their alternative plan calls for dealing with the deficit over a 3 to 5 year period and they want UVM to tap into the university’s endowment. Fogel has rejected this approach.

Fogel says next year’s budget does include a generous salary increase for many members of the faculty union and he says it’s up to the union to decide if they want to forego some of this increase in order to avoid making layoffs:

(Fogel) "We would be open to a proposal from the faculty bargaining unit but we are not seeking that –  they would have to come to us and say that they wished to do that and I don’t want to put an onus on them either. The negotiating process was a give and take – they got some things and I think they got a very good wage settlement."

Fogel says he’s convinced that UVM will be able to weather the current economic storm without making cuts that would harm the quality of education at the university but some faculty members disagree.

For VPR News I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.

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