CHAPEL HILL -- State budget cuts to UNC-Chapel Hill will cause layoffs and larger classes and could affect the operation of campus buildings.
UNC-CH’s Board of Trustees met today to receive reports on the implications of the state budget cuts, and updates on the NCAA plagiarism scandal and upcoming revisions to the student Honor Court.
The state has cut about $100 million, or 17.9 percent of total state revenues, from the university budget. Some of the cuts will be offset by a one-time $20 million payment from the UNC Health Care system, but the university will continue layoffs and struggle to keep some campus buildings open.
“We’re working through what [the] final numbers may mean," Chancellor Holden Thorp said. "There will be measurable damage.”
So far this fiscal year 115 employees have been laid off; 91 non-faculty employees and 24 faculty members and administrators.
The university focused on cutting non-academic areas as much as possible first, which has left support departments thin. More cuts without some replenishing of funds for support areas could result in campus buildings closing, said Vice-Chancellor Richard Mann.
“We are facing a significant gap in operations,” he said. “We have concerns about … the ability to even keep our buildings operated We have a number of building we’re concerned about …we might not able to keep them open.”
Less state money will affect the academic structure of the university and prolong the freeze on employee salaries and make it more difficult to attract and retain prestigious professors and faculty, said Provost Bruce Carney.
“These have real impacts on our students and the debt they will graduate with,” he said. “Compared to other universities, UNC is well supported, but it’s on a downward trend … we are falling behind in our peers in the amount of support per student.”
As state appropriations to UNC-CH have declined since fiscal year 2009-2010, the amount of government contracts and grants and private gifts have increased.
In fiscal year 2010-2011 the university received $277 million from private donors, and $305.6 million in donation commitments.
Both are up from last year, gifts increasing 3.3 percent and commitments increasing 5 percent.
