Chancellor Robert Hemenway ordered contingency plans Thursday to reduce spending at Kansas University.
In a memo distributed to faculty and staff, Hemenway ordered the university to find ways to cut spending by 2 percent in the current fiscal year and 5 percent in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The chancellor said the contingency plans were needed because proposed cuts from Gov. Bill Graves would short KU by nearly $10 million.
“KU is too great an institution to be brought to its knees by a budget cut of this magnitude, even if it is one of the most severe in the history of the university,” Hemenway wrote.
“We will survive, and we will not compromise KU’s standards or its goals,” he said. “We will, however, face a difficult time over the next 18-24 months.”
Graves has said his proposed state budget for the next fiscal year must cut $426 million because of dwindling revenues brought by the recession and economic jolts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Graves has said the budget would produce cuts in education, social services, highways and public safety. He said he will propose tax increases to increase revenue when the legislative session starts Jan. 14.
Sandra Wick, former president of the Unclassified Professional Staff Assn. at KU, said Hemenway’s memo reflected the bad budget news coming from Topeka.
“The state needs to raise taxes, and if it cares about education, it will do that,” Wick said.
The contingency cuts will be put together by Provost David Shulenburger and Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center. Shulenburger could not be reached for comment.
Hemenway didn’t mention any areas that could be reduced, but he invited employees to contact administrators with savings ideas.
“I hope it’s not an across-the-board cut,” Wick said. “I hope they let the schools and programs see what they can do.”
Graves’ budget office has told KU to expect a $5.4 million cut, or nearly 4 percent of its budget, in the next fiscal year.
But Hemenway said that doesn’t take into account funds needed to extend a state employee pay raise that was enacted earlier this year and a 26 percent increase in the cost of providing health insurance.
The total hit to KU will be $9.7 million for the next fiscal year, Hemenway said.
He said his administration would do everything possible to persuade lawmakers “that KU is too valuable an asset to the economy and culture of the state to be so severely cut.”
Chancellor Robert Hemenway ordered contingency plans Thursday to reduce spending at Kansas University.
In a memo distributed to faculty and staff, Hemenway ordered the university to find ways to cut spending by 2 percent in the current fiscal year and 5 percent in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The chancellor said the contingency plans were needed because proposed cuts from Gov. Bill Graves would short KU by nearly $10 million.
“KU is too great an institution to be brought to its knees by a budget cut of this magnitude, even if it is one of the most severe in the history of the university,” Hemenway wrote.
“We will survive, and we will not compromise KU’s standards or its goals,” he said. “We will, however, face a difficult time over the next 18-24 months.”
Graves has said his proposed state budget for the next fiscal year must cut $426 million because of dwindling revenues brought by the recession and economic jolts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Graves has said the budget would produce cuts in education, social services, highways and public safety. He said he will propose tax increases to increase revenue when the legislative session starts Jan. 14.
Sandra Wick, former president of the Unclassified Professional Staff Assn. at KU, said Hemenway’s memo reflected the bad budget news coming from Topeka.
“The state needs to raise taxes, and if it cares about education, it will do that,” Wick said.
The contingency cuts will be put together by Provost David Shulenburger and Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center. Shulenburger could not be reached for comment.
Hemenway didn’t mention any areas that could be reduced, but he invited employees to contact administrators with savings ideas.
“I hope it’s not an across-the-board cut,” Wick said. “I hope they let the schools and programs see what they can do.”
Graves’ budget office has told KU to expect a $5.4 million cut, or nearly 4 percent of its budget, in the next fiscal year.
But Hemenway said that doesn’t take into account funds needed to extend a state employee pay raise that was enacted earlier this year and a 26 percent increase in the cost of providing health insurance.
The total hit to KU will be $9.7 million for the next fiscal year, Hemenway said.
He said his administration would do everything possible to persuade lawmakers “that KU is too valuable an asset to the economy and culture of the state to be so severely cut.”
Chancellor Robert Hemenway ordered contingency plans Thursday to reduce spending at Kansas University.
In a memo distributed to faculty and staff, Hemenway ordered the university to find ways to cut spending by 2 percent in the current fiscal year and 5 percent in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The chancellor said the contingency plans were needed because proposed cuts from Gov. Bill Graves would short KU by nearly $10 million.
“KU is too great an institution to be brought to its knees by a budget cut of this magnitude, even if it is one of the most severe in the history of the university,” Hemenway wrote.
“We will survive, and we will not compromise KU’s standards or its goals,” he said. “We will, however, face a difficult time over the next 18-24 months.”
Graves has said his proposed state budget for the next fiscal year must cut $426 million because of dwindling revenues brought by the recession and economic jolts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Graves has said the budget would produce cuts in education, social services, highways and public safety. He said he will propose tax increases to increase revenue when the legislative session starts Jan. 14.
Sandra Wick, former president of the Unclassified Professional Staff Assn. at KU, said Hemenway’s memo reflected the bad budget news coming from Topeka.
“The state needs to raise taxes, and if it cares about education, it will do that,” Wick said.
The contingency cuts will be put together by Provost David Shulenburger and Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center. Shulenburger could not be reached for comment.
Hemenway didn’t mention any areas that could be reduced, but he invited employees to contact administrators with savings ideas.
“I hope it’s not an across-the-board cut,” Wick said. “I hope they let the schools and programs see what they can do.”
Graves’ budget office has told KU to expect a $5.4 million cut, or nearly 4 percent of its budget, in the next fiscal year.
But Hemenway said that doesn’t take into account funds needed to extend a state employee pay raise that was enacted earlier this year and a 26 percent increase in the cost of providing health insurance.
The total hit to KU will be $9.7 million for the next fiscal year, Hemenway said.
He said his administration would do everything possible to persuade lawmakers “that KU is too valuable an asset to the economy and culture of the state to be so severely cut.”
Chancellor Robert Hemenway ordered contingency plans Thursday to reduce spending at Kansas University.
In a memo distributed to faculty and staff, Hemenway ordered the university to find ways to cut spending by 2 percent in the current fiscal year and 5 percent in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The chancellor said the contingency plans were needed because proposed cuts from Gov. Bill Graves would short KU by nearly $10 million.
“KU is too great an institution to be brought to its knees by a budget cut of this magnitude, even if it is one of the most severe in the history of the university,” Hemenway wrote.
“We will survive, and we will not compromise KU’s standards or its goals,” he said. “We will, however, face a difficult time over the next 18-24 months.”
Graves has said his proposed state budget for the next fiscal year must cut $426 million because of dwindling revenues brought by the recession and economic jolts from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Graves has said the budget would produce cuts in education, social services, highways and public safety. He said he will propose tax increases to increase revenue when the legislative session starts Jan. 14.
Sandra Wick, former president of the Unclassified Professional Staff Assn. at KU, said Hemenway’s memo reflected the bad budget news coming from Topeka.
“The state needs to raise taxes, and if it cares about education, it will do that,” Wick said.
The contingency cuts will be put together by Provost David Shulenburger and Donald Hagen, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center. Shulenburger could not be reached for comment.
Hemenway didn’t mention any areas that could be reduced, but he invited employees to contact administrators with savings ideas.
“I hope it’s not an across-the-board cut,” Wick said. “I hope they let the schools and programs see what they can do.”
Graves’ budget office has told KU to expect a $5.4 million cut, or nearly 4 percent of its budget, in the next fiscal year.
But Hemenway said that doesn’t take into account funds needed to extend a state employee pay raise that was enacted earlier this year and a 26 percent increase in the cost of providing health insurance.
The total hit to KU will be $9.7 million for the next fiscal year, Hemenway said.
He said his administration would do everything possible to persuade lawmakers “that KU is too valuable an asset to the economy and culture of the state to be so severely cut.”
