The University of Idaho Argonaut

With the recent announcement of a 1 percent holdback in state funding — the University of Idaho is working to determine how and where to make changes for 2009.
Interim President Steven Daley-Laursen sat in on a UI Faculty Council meeting Tuesday for a question-and-answer session devoted to the topic of “Program Prioritization,” the process used to decide which academic programs have reached the end of the line.

With annual budget cuts undecided, Daley-Laursen said the total number of funds needing reallocation is unknown. The holdback issued by C.L. “Butch” Otter last Friday alone will force the university to strike just under $1 million from its 2009 budget.
“(State funding) has been a steady downward trend as the total percentage of the university’s funding,” Daley-Laursen said. “We need to be very careful and manage our resources.”
Daley-Laursen said he encouraged faculty to make investments in necessary areas and disinvestments in others. He said no aspect of the university will be immune to cutbacks. The 77 faculty positions inducted this year also stand as possible cuts, Daley-Laursen said, but such a measure is unlikely.
“I would take nothing off the table,” he said.

The Program Prioritization model, created by the President’s Cabinet, consists of a revolving decision-making process. The president and provost will choose initial programs before their decisions are given to the Provost’s Council for development. The UI Faculty Council and President’s Cabinet will have a chance to advise the president and provost before the decision is given to the Board of Regents. Chairs, faculty, staff and students may give input via the faculty council or the president’s cabinet. Academic Affairs Provost Doug Baker said a decision is expected by January.
Tuesday marked the second consecutive meeting to discuss the prioritization process. Faculty council members were encouraged to consult with faculty within their department and bring questions to the meeting.

Faculty council member James Murphy said he experienced a “troubling” number of faculty members who expressed cynicism toward how much input the model will truly allow.
“There is a climate out there of skepticism,” he said.
Several council members showed concern about being unaware of the priorities and criteria used to choose disposable and indispensable programs.
 “If we don’t know what the priorities are and we don’t know the criteria,” said faculty council member Don Crowley, “the facts become somewhat irrelevant at a certain point. We need to take the time to develop some sort of university consensus, which doesn’t currently exist, on what our priorities are.”

Although Daley-Laursen called for the decision to be made by January, the UI Budget and Finance Committee submitted a resolution that would allocate two years to complete the process. The resolution was discussed during the Sept. 23 council meeting and was tabled.
Faculty member Jack Sullivan said he felt the process needed more of a “lead foot” approach in order to get decisions made before the start of next semester.

“Our competitors aren’t waiting,” he said. “We need to do this.”
The Program Prioritization model will not affect athletics. Faculty council member Ed Schmeckpeper said faculty might have difficulty making sound decisions with athletics excluded.
“It is just too heavy to try to organize a process that looks at all of those parts,” Daley-Laursen said. “We’re looking at those as well as we can with process relating to each one and I think we will migrate toward integrating (addition processes).”

Daley-Laursen said he suggested UI pursue other avenues to offset the trend of reduced funding.
“I’ve been talking a little bit about what it means for UI to become a public (and) private university,” he said. “And that doesn’t daunt me to think about that.”

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