Response to the Proposed State Budget Cuts

January 29, 2003

Members of the Rutgers Community:

Yesterday, Governor James E. McGreevey shared with the presidents of New Jersey's public four-year colleges and universities his intention to reduce state support for those institutions by roughly $86 million in the coming fiscal year (beginning July 1, 2003). Additional reductions to other components of higher education support are also likely to affect Rutgers. The proposed cut in funding for higher education is part of the efforts to close a projected multi-billion dollar gap in the state's budget for Fiscal Year 2003–04. Details on the proposal should be available following the budget address next Tuesday, but it is clear that drastic reductions will be proposed for all state agencies and services.

Budget reductions of the size announced yesterday will seriously damage higher education in general and Rutgers in particular. Coming on the heels of a seven percent cut for the last fiscal year, the new reductions, which we estimate to be around fourteen percent of the university's state-appropriated base budget, will significantly affect access to Rutgers as well as the quality of education we provide. This comes at a time when increasing numbers of New Jersey students are seeking admission to the state's public colleges and universities. To put this cut in context, the proposed reduction is twice the budget of all of the university's libraries.

The outcomes will be exceedingly painful for students, faculty, staff and the New Jersey citizens we serve. Just as we did in dealing with last year's seven percent cut, we will try to shield our core instructional and research missions by concentrating our reductions in other areas. However, a cut of this magnitude is unprecedented and cannot be easily absorbed. While it is too soon to predict specific impacts, the consequences of the planned cuts could include our inability to fill vacant positions across the university and greater difficulty for students to register for desired courses. I will be consulting with all elements of the Rutgers community on ways to deal with these reductions.

As members of the university community, it is essential for us to work together to raise public awareness of the likely results of these budget cuts. The budget reductions, on top of the existing under-funding of New Jersey colleges and universities, raise fundamental questions about the direction of higher education in our state. How will we meet the educational needs of our citizens? How will New Jersey remain in the forefront of the innovation economy? How can we achieve the academic excellence necessary to compete in a global economy? These are basic issues, not only for the higher education institutions, but also for the people of New Jersey and especially their elected officials.

With higher education more important than ever, both to individuals and to our society, the people of New Jersey must recommit to support their public institutions of higher learning, not walk away from them. Before the state budget is finalized in June, we must take every opportunity to convince state officials of the importance of adequate and predictable funding for public higher education. We must raise our voices today, or we will surely regret the consequences tomorrow.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey