CONTACT:
Lisa Nelson
Director, NAU Public Affairs
(928) 523-6123
Lisa.Nelson@nau.edu

Jan. 31, 2009

NAU President John Haeger's statement
On the FY2009 budget cuts

The state faces an extraordinarily difficult financial situation, and the universities have stood ready to shoulder a fair share of the burden.

However, the Legislature has weighted the universities with an enormous obstacle to providing the quality education the citizens of Arizona deserve and need.

The Legislature, with the governor's approval, has chosen to cut $141.5 million from the university system, which means a reduction of $21 million to $22 million for NAU in FY09.

NAU already had planned to chop $10.5 million from its budget. To meet the state's needs, the university has frozen hiring (not filling nearly 100 positions), stopped the expansion of new health-professions programs, closed the Center for High Altitude Training Center and the NAU Social Research Lab, severely restricted travel and purchases, and asked faculty and staff to increase work loads.

Now we must cut an additional $11-plus million from an already strained budget. Make no mistake: the cut will have a dramatic impact on the university. But also know we remain committed to our core mission, because education is the way up and the way out.

While the cuts to the universities are considerably more than we had planned for, the Legislature at least authorized the institutions to move forward with their respective plans to stimulate the economy.

The Stimulus Plan for Economic and Educational Development, or SPEED, will allow NAU to make much-needed repairs to aging buildings while providing a jump-start to the sagging economy by boosting the construction industry.

On Monday, I will outline several options for the proposed cuts, and I will meet with campus groups throughout the week to get their input. I expect to finalize the plan within the next two weeks.

After we resolve the current budget situation, the university will move on to face the task of preparing for the FY10 budget, which could be worse than the current budget. However, we will work with our legislative leaders to choose a different path: one that will allow our educational institutions to help lead the state to prosperity instead of postponing our economic recovery.

These economic downturns are cyclical, and I remain confident that our university community will work together to manage this crisis and thrive in the years ahead.

-NAU-