Shut down a UNC campus?

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By Eric Ferreri - Staff writer

File this under "Worst Case Scenario."

UNC President Erskine Bowles is broaching something many would surely view unthinkable: If budget cuts continue at higher levels than now anticipated, might an entire public university campus be shut down?

"If you have 20 percent budget cuts, you'll have to think about closing down campuses," Bowles told members of the UNC system's Board of Governors today. "Period."

That was the second time this morning Bowles broached that notion - an extreme one, no doubt, but one he said would be preferable in the long term than continually chipping away at the budgets of all campuses.

"If we keep having cuts, cuts, cuts, we'll have to look at eliminating schools - campuses," he said. "If it went on for several years, that would be the smart decision. The unfortunate, smart decision."

To be CRYSTAL clear here - the shuttering of a public university campus is NOT under consideration. But the fact that the idea has been broached publicly speaks to the seriousness of the current university budget situation.

The UNC system has been asked by state leaders to present budget cut scenarios of 5 and 10 percent for next year. That would amount to $135 million and $270 million in cuts, respectively, from a total budget of $2.7 billion.

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