 |
 |
Skip |  |
 |
|
 |
November 7, 2001
To: Campus Community
From: Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood and Campus Provost/EVC John Simpson
Re: Budget Update and General Hiring Freeze
Dear Colleagues:
On October 23, 2001, Governor Davis signed two Executive Orders to all state agencies: the first imposes a general hiring freeze for all state employees; and the second requires state agencies to reduce expenditures for non-salary purchases, such as equipment, travel, consulting services, and other contractual agreements. These are to be effective through June 2003. The Governor asked for the cooperation of the University of California and the California State University "to a level that will not interfere with meeting their educational mission." In turn, President Atkinson directed each campus to comply with the "spirit and intent of these Executive Orders."
To comply with the intent and spirit of the Governor's Executive Orders, UC Santa Cruz is implementing a general hiring freeze, effective today, with exemptions for certain categories of employees. Vice chancellors and deans may grant exceptions to the freeze for those positions that are considered vital to the educational and research mission of UC Santa Cruz. Any exception granted must be advertently justified in terms of our overall educational mission. By copy of this memo, we are also asking all campus units to reduce expenditures for travel, entertainment, and other discretionary expenses, as well as for contractual agreements that are not essential to the campus's core educational mission.
The following guidelines will apply to the general hiring freeze and will be in place until rescinded:
- - Faculty recruitments authorized for recruitment in 2001-02 are exempt from the freeze.
- - The freeze covers all career, limited appointment, contract positions, personal services contracts (e.g., consultant agreements, performance agreements, etc.), and temporary employment services, regardless of funding source and including self-supporting units. Exceptions to this are positions that are fully supported by externally funded contracts and grants.
- - Principal Officers (all deans, the vice chancellors, the University librarian) may grant exceptions to the freeze. They are asked to consider all appointments and exceptions carefully in light of their long-range planning efforts, and in light of the highly likely budget reductions they will have in the near future.
The State's fiscal condition is serious, and will likely require us to make difficult choices within the context of our long-range plans. For this reason, we wish to emphasize that the long-range planning process we began last year must be completed. The current budget circumstances underscore the importance of clearly articulating our priorities, and for developing a resource strategy for implementing those plans that carefully consider state as well as all other sources of support for the campus. In the meantime, conversations have been initiated with Principal Officers and the leadership of the Academic Senate to develop principles against which we can assess different tactics to generate savings, budget reductions, or increased revenue.
Although we don't have dollar-specific details about the impact of the State budget cuts on UC, we do know that recent reports concerning the State's budget problems estimate that the gap between revenue and expenditures may be as high as $9.5B in the current year, and between $8B - $14B in 2002-03, excluding the $9B in power purchases that is to be repaid from the sale of bonds.
In this uncertain atmosphere, the Office of the President is in negotiations with the Department of Finance regarding cuts to this year's budget as well as to the 2002-03 University budget. Within the next few weeks we should know what, if any, adjustments to the campus budget will be required for this fiscal year, but we will not have an indication of the magnitude of cuts that the University will have to absorb in 2002-03 until the Governor's budget is released in January.
Specific adjustments to the campus budget will depend on a number of parameters, including how much of the University's budget cut will be targeted to specific activities or will be absorbed at a system wide level. Given the likelihood that the State's fiscal problems will continue through the next year, and possibly longer, we must be very cautious now about making permanent hires and entering into other major financial commitments.
The campus's long-term viability depends on our ability to work together to weather this downturn in the State's economy. As the circumstances surrounding this situation unfold, we are committed to continuing open communication and dialogue and to keeping the campus community updated as information becomes available.
It is worth noting that in each of the three immediately past decades, the State and UC were faced with economic downturns of varying degrees. In each instance, UC responded with actions that preserved the quality of the University of California. We are confident that UCSC will continue its excellence in its teaching, research, and service missions. We ask your patience, careful consideration and thoughtful responses to this situation. We know that we will persist through this because we will approach this challenge together, as a community. We thank you for your help and your fortitude during this uncertain time.
Sincerely yours,
M.R.C. Greenwood
Chancellor
John B. Simpson
Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
cc: Academic Senate Chair George Blumenthal
Campus Unit Heads
Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu