In a memo to the campus community Monday, President Roderick J. McDavis shared the rationale behind the university’s preliminary budget reduction scenarios and outlined the next steps in the budget planning process.
"We gave the highest level of protection from reductions to those activities at the university that are primary to supporting enrollment objectives, protecting graduation/retention rates, generating student credit hours, preserving the quality of the student experience, and advancing research and creative activity," he said. "We also tried to preserve the university's ability to function efficiently and effectively in areas that are essential to our institutional operation."
McDavis also emphasized the context in which he, Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit and Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Angelini developed the draft recommendations. According to the memo, key elements of that context are:
- A recommendation involving a reduction in a particular activity does not reflect upon its value or quality. The draft recommendations reflect strategic choices that are responsive to the need to protect the university's academic quality and to ensure an exemplary experience for our students. Those choices were extremely difficult ones, and it was impossible to construct draft recommendations that would not affect productive, dedicated members of our community.
- The level of proposed reductions is not based on the total budget of each planning unit, but rather on the general fund portion of each unit's budget.
- Scholarships and tuition waivers were exempted from reductions.
- These recommendations form one part of a much larger budget process that involves many other considerations, including the refining of revenue and expenditure estimates.
- The recommendations are subject to additional external financial pressures from the State of Ohio.
The draft budget recommendations will undergo university-wide review and comment in order to facilitate transparency and shared governance. There are multiple opportunities for students, faculty and staff to provide feedback during the budget process, including a series of open budget forums and the Budget Suggestion Web site. These comments and concerns will be weighted carefully before final budget reduction decisions are made.
Click here to view the full memo. To view the draft budget recommendations, visit the university’s Budget Update Web site.
