Amid a $19 million shortfall, the University of Maine faculty senate is requesting more involvement in the university’s upcoming budget decisions.
In a resolution recently adopted in a 46-2-2 vote, faculty senate members asked for UMaine administrators to have more consultation with the senate about next year’s budget, any future budgets and academic impacts of proposed layoffs and reduced costs.
UMaine’s budget shortfall has ignited responses from the university’s faculty senate and union members across the University of Maine System. While the university announced plans to close the budget shortfall to $3 million Wednesday, faculty members are asking for more transparency and involvement in a budget process that will require layoffs and cutting costs.
The requests in the resolution, which echoes concerns the faculty senate expressed in April, are not new, but the budget crisis has put a time crunch on when faculty members and administrators can come together before the budget is presented to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, Faculty Senate President Brian McGill said.
“We can have shared governance or we cannot have shared governance around this budget crisis and we’re past the point of talking about what does it mean and how do we do it and we’re into the point of let’s just do it,” McGill said.
UMaine administrators responded to the resolution Wednesday, McGill said. According to McGill, the response didn’t guarantee more conversations would occur and documents administrators pointed to in it don’t answer faculty’s questions.
“It was pretty disappointing. It was pretty confrontational and petty,” McGill said.
Information on how retrenchments fit into strategic reenvisioning was shared, McGill said. Other questions weren’t answered, but the response did say administrators want to have conversations to better understand what faculty want to know, McGill said.
Faculty’s questions have already been laid out and are specific, he said. The response shows the university is “slow walking” discussions that are on a short timeline, McGill said.
“[This response] is not stepping up to show leadership in a budget crisis. We have a massive crisis happening and serious leadership is needed,” McGill said.
In recent years, there’s been little to no information about the budget shared with faculty before the board of trustees reviews it in January, McGill said. When the board of trustees approves the budget, it’s shown as a total of roughly 25 line items with little to no supporting information, McGill said.
With layoffs and retrenchment being proposed, faculty want more budget information before January to understand what cuts are coming and how they will affect academics, McGill said. Although job cuts will affect faculty members most directly, the resolution also asks for information about future enrollment projects, priorities in future years and how the university got into a budget shortfall.
“These questions are really fundamental questions about the future of the university that everybody should be asking and paying attention to,” McGill said.
In a September letter announcing the $19 million shortfall, President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and Provost Gabriel Paquette said the university would seek input from faculty members and stakeholders as outlined in UMaine’s shared governance policy, which was adopted in 2009 and states that faculty members have an advisory role in the budget process. At a town hall meeting earlier this month, Ferrini-Mundy said more budget information would be shared when it’s available.
Administrators are still seeking input and “believe that transparency, trust and meaningful consultation, communication and collaboration between the administration and our employees are essential to most effectively serving our students and the state, and to the long-term strength and success of Maine’s flagship public university,” University of Maine System Spokesperson Samantha Warren said.
“The university’s budget challenges are real and require difficult decisions, as well as constructive engagement focused on solutions,” Warren said.
Following the resolution vote, the faculty senate sent 36 questions on the upcoming budget to UMaine administrators. The questions are based on conversations faculty members have had, McGill said.
Although the questions were sent to administrators with a 15-business day deadline that has come and gone, they have not been answered, McGill said. A response is usually expected within 30 days but an expedited answer was requested due to the crisis, McGill said.
With just over two months before UMaine’s budget is sent to the board of trustees, where it could be amended — but in recent years has not been — faculty want the opportunity to hear responses and give feedback while it could be impactful, McGill said.
“I know changes can still happen, but I don’t think the faculty feel like they’re going to be part of that conversation to any significant degree, after it goes [to the Board of Trustees] in January,” McGill said.