Rutgers University Senate
REPORT AND RESOLUTION ON PROPOSED REDUCTION IN STATE FUNDING
Approved by the Senate at its regular meeting on
February 21, 2003
Much of New Jersey society has connections to Rutgers University, and
has been shocked by the devastating and unprecedented cuts in the proposed
budget for the State of New Jersey. The Rutgers University Senate
recognizes the difficult financial situation that the State of New Jersey
is facing, and acknowledges that severe budgetary reductions have been
proposed in nearly all state-supported operations. Although the Rutgers
University Senate is not insensitive to the impact of these reductions
in other areas, we need to point out the qualitative differences between
those cuts and those proposed cuts for higher education in general and
Rutgers University in particular:
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The 11.9% reduction is disproportionate compared with higher education
cuts in general and within the context of the proposed state budget, which
carries a 1% increase.
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The proposed cuts come on the heels of chronic underfunding that has placed
Rutgers University in a more vulnerable situation than other sectors.
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Higher education is unique among the affected sectors in the role that
reputation plays in achieving academic excellence. Reputations are
built over decades, but can be ruined within a few years. Once a
certain threshold is reached, inability to retain the best faculty may
cause irreparable damage to the institution’s reputation. Indeed,
no institution of higher education has ever recovered from such a decline.
Rutgers is New Jersey's flagship institution of higher education, and plays
a central role in creating the educated and highly trained workforce necessary
for New Jersey’s economic progress. Rutgers has already been severely
strained by years of disproportionate underfunding, including last year's
substantial mid-year cuts. Placing those cuts into context illustrates
the extended impact of those cuts: Rutgers was already ranked near
the bottom third of states in percentage of state allocations to higher
education prior to the newly proposed cuts. The new cuts in state
allocations to Rutgers will result in significantly reduced course offerings
and educational programs, decreased faculty/student ratio (which has already
been declining under the combination of rising enrollments and budget shortfalls
of the last decade), and critically impaired ability to recruit -- and
especially retain -- the talented faculty upon whom its excellence depends.
The proposed cuts will also necessitate tuition increases and limit enrollment
levels which (especially in combination with the proposed budget for the
TAG programs) will limit access to higher education for many residents
of our state, .
Other proposed cuts, which will also affect Rutgers by decreasing its
funding by over $6 million, include:
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Funding for the Outstanding Scholars Recruitment Program for high-achieving
students that will be reduced.
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Funding for cutting-edge research under the state’s Commission on Science
and Technology that will be eliminated.
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State-funded scholarly chairs that will be eliminated.
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The state’s incentive endowment fund that matches private gifts that will
be eliminated.
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Other state grant programs in arts, history, and other areas that will
be eliminated.
The 170,000 Rutgers alumni living in New Jersey play a pivotal role in
the economic growth and processes of our state, and are ample evidence
of the need for sustained, predictable, and adequate funding for Rutgers,
the State University of New Jersey. Although budgets are being cut
in numerous other critical areas of the state, the reductions for Rutgers
are unique in that they follow on decades of decreased funding coupled
with increased demands on higher education. Academic reputations
are built slowly over many years. The proposed cuts risk undoing
the progress of the last twenty years. They are all the more frustrating
given the recent proposals made by Governor McGreevey and the NJ Commission
on Health Science, Education and Training to reorganize New Jersey higher
education in order to help achieve yet greater excellence. Regardless
of the merits of the proposed structural changes, any changes are unlikely
to succeed in the current environment of massive budgetary cuts.
In light of the foregoing, the Rutgers University Senate, consisting
of over 200 members of the Rutgers and New Jersey communities, including
alumni, students, faculty and administrators, advances to the State of
New Jersey and Governor McGreevey, the following:
RESOLUTION IN OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED AND CONTINUED BUDGET CUTS,
AND IN SUPPORT OF EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW JERSEY
Whereas, an educated and highly trained workforce is necessary
for the economic progress of the State; and,
Whereas, Rutgers, as the flagship institution of higher education
for New Jersey, currently plays a leadership role in training the people
of our State and in the overall economic growth of New Jersey, and,
Whereas, continued excellence depends upon sustained, predictable,
and adequate funding; and,
Whereas, the projected budget cuts are of an enormous and shocking
magnitude, especially following years of underfunding and last year’s significant
mid-year cuts; and,
Whereas, the budget cuts will limit access to higher education
for many residents of our State; and,
Whereas, academic reputations are built slowly over many years,
and once compromised cannot be regained; and,
Whereas, the proposed cuts are unique among those impacting the
many other critical areas of the State in that they compound problems caused
by decades of increasingly inadequate funding, and risk pushing Rutgers
past a threshold that could undo the progress of the last twenty years;
Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the State prevent the most serious
erosion in the quality of higher education in New Jersey by providing sufficient
and appropriate funding for higher education; and,
Be It Further Resolved, that the Governor's Review and Implementation
Committee of the NJ Commission on Health Science, Education and Training
delay recommendations for any significant actions concerning the reorganization
of New Jersey higher education until the associated cost for each action
has been assessed and the necessary financial commitment to achieve them
has been made by the State; and,
Be It Also Resolved, that the State also look beyond the current
fiscal crisis and work with the higher education community to develop a
plan for predictable, sustained, and adequate funding that can help New
Jersey higher education achieve our shared goal of academic excellence,
as called for in the report of the NJ Commission on Health Science, Education
and Training.