Over the next two months, we will work to review and finalize revenue and expenditure assumptions that will serve as the base for our FY 2011 budget proposal.  Our current budget assumptions may change, but it is important at this time for the university community to move ahead with discussions regarding the budget. I ask each member of our community to stay informed and engage fully in the process.  To that end, I encourage you to view the overall university budget timeline that will be posted on the Budget Update website later this afternoon.

In selecting the draft budget recommendations, we took great care to adhere to the guidelines established at the beginning of the 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.  We also tried to preserve the university's ability to function efficiently and effectively in areas that are essential to our institutional operation. 

The draft recommendations were developed in a context that is important for the university community to understand.  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.  The goals for this process are transparency and facilitation of shared governance.  Input will be requested on whether the recommendations are sufficient to position the university to advance its mission of undergraduate and graduate education and to meet immediate budget needs while holding to the established constraints of the strategic budget process.  To solicit input, a series of open budget forums will be held and a website will be available to provide additional comments.  Your comments and concerns will be weighed carefully before final budget reduction decisions are made.

The draft budget recommendations will be posted on the Budget Update website this afternoon.  We welcome robust discussion of these recommendations but also would ask that civility and courtesy be present in the content and tenor of our conversations.  If we are collegial and constructive in our efforts to find the best way to meet our budget reductions, we will demonstrate why Ohio University is such a remarkable academic institution. 

With Founders Day almost upon us we are reminded that throughout the course of its 206-year history, Ohio University has encountered and overcome many obstacles.  We have been pragmatic optimists throughout our long history and that approach has always put us in good stead. 

Cordially,

Roderick J. McDavis
President