University Senate meeting includes concerns and protest over budget cuts 

The University of Connecticut Senate meeting on Monday involved questions and discussions about the budget cuts imposed on various academic departments. 

A group of professors and students sat in on the meeting with shirts and signs to protest the budget cuts. Various senators raised concerns and questions about the cuts, particularly during the university president’s report and the report of the Senate Executive Committee. 

Jeffrey McCutcheon, a university senator and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, said that the answers given during the meeting seemed unsatisfactory. 

“I felt there was a lot of unhappiness in the room and a lot of distrust, a lot of frustration, and I don’t believe anything that was said today alleviated any of it. That’s unfortunate,” McCutcheon said. “That’s upsetting to me, because when I became a faculty member, the mood was very different, and there’s just a lot of distrust and unhappiness amongst the staff and faculty right now that I don’t think is being recognized by the administration.” 

When questions were being taken after the president’s report, university senator Elizabeth Jockusch, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor, asked why athletics were being asked to increase revenue rather than prepare for budget cuts like other departments. UConn President Radenka Maric responded by explaining that cutting athletic staff and programs would not make sense since they are part of a union, so increasing revenue and improving efficiency was their best option. Jeffrey Geoghegan, the executive vice president for finance and chief financial officer, said that he will be meeting with the athletic department to discuss their strategies for revenue increases. 

Jon Heiden, the president of Undergraduate Student Government in Storrs and a student senator, said after the meeting that people needed more clarity on how the budget cuts would relate to the athletic department. 

“I think a lot of questions around athletics still need to be answered,” Heiden said. “That’s the place people often ask questions about, and I think people are asking good questions and I think they are still yet to be answered.” 

Maric joined the meeting virtually from a car because she was called into a legislative meeting in Hartford. She was present for roughly 30 minutes, after which she left to join the legislative meeting. 

While asking questions to Senate Executive Committee Chair Laura Burton, university senator Gustavo Nanclares, a professor of literature, culture and languages, said that “faculty are losing their trust” and he was “really disappointed” that Maric was not physically there to present her report and take questions. He asked why department funds were being cut before the budget was finalized. 

Burton called upon Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Anne D’Alleva to respond to parts of the question. D’Alleva stressed that Maric valued being with staff and student representatives in person, but that the meeting in Hartford was “not the kind of meeting she could say no to.” 

“We’ve had a number of very positive and honest discussions with the Senate Executive Committee, with your budget committee, your other committees,” D’Alleva said. 

D’Alleva also said she understood the challenge in managing issues like these and departments still had the opportunity to communicate the issues they were having with the budget so that the administration could mitigate the problems. 

“The budget is a process. It’s a process, and because we are a state university, it is a long process. So even those funds that have been, as we’re saying, swept in CLAS, they have been encumbered, and that may sound like a distinction without a difference, but it’s not,” D’Alleva said. “It means those have been earmarked as funds that could be used to take the rescission in CLAS. But through the process that we’re now going through, departments have a chance to make clear what the impact of that sweep would be.” 

After the meeting, student senator Ben Keilty, the comptroller of USG Storrs, said that he hoped the university would continue to include students in the conversation as questions and clarifications about the budget are discussed. 

“The students believe it is absolutely necessary to continue investing in both a world-class education and the student services necessary to make sure students can learn, live and thrive on this campus. We call on the governor and state legislators and administration to continue prioritizing the things that students care about,” Keilty said. 

Burton said that the Senate Executive Committee was looking forward to both supporting the administration and ensuring that concerns from constituents are heard. 

“We’re going to continue to advocate on behalf of our constituents and enhance communication as much as we can. We value that sincerely,” Burton said. “We really value the importance of constituents coming to us and for us to be able to share those concerns with the administration, and they are listening to those concerns.”