Chair Talk #10
The Shared Governance Caucus, composed of the leaders of ASUA, APAC, Faculty Senate, GPSC and SAC, have generated a Statement concerning the current budget situation:
The University of Arizona is facing extraordinary budget challenges, exacerbated by the compounding effect of prior cuts. While urgent actions will clearly be required, we are concerned that all our actions, urgent or not, reflect the sustained best interests of the institution. The Shared Governance Caucus, made up of the leaders of APAC, ASUA, Faculty Senate, GPSC, and SAC, would like to convey our collective concerns as we approach these challenges. These concerns are most readily expressed in terms of our values, and some frameworks for action they suggest. Core values should inform decision-making at all times, and especially in times of challenge. Our core values are expressed in Never Settle, which can help us map a successful future.
Conceptual Frameworks for Action
• Ensure that the core functions of the university remain functional despite any budget challenges, while at the same time not forgetting that core functions have depth and reach beyond the obvious.
• Recognize that there are limits to the burden that can be transferred to students, as we seek to meet our charge as a Land Grant University and to ensure the university experience remains as widely accessible as possible.
Strategic Recommendations
• Spread the pain. The need for wide organizational support mandates this. No group, unit or class of employee should appear to be beyond the reach of discomfort in meeting these challenges. Symbolic measures are insufficient. Discomfort should be clear, transparent and quantifiable.
• Make investments. While cuts are necessary, we must continue to make investments in faculty, staff, and graduate students and other initiatives to ensure our future.
• Ensure salary parity with our peers. Longstanding salary issues cannot be ignored in perpetuity. These should be considered in the larger framework of meeting all our fiscal challenges.
• Consider a well thought-out staged response. A rush toward permanent solutions that solve the entire budget shortfall in one year may be counter-productive. Now that we have the bulk of the work on RCM behind us, we can use the next year to reassess and reexamine options, and that can only benefit us.
• Share our value to the public. We must find a way to convince the public of the value of higher education. Every employee should be armed with facts and be able to act as an ambassador for our message.
Close
The Shared Governance Caucus, and those they represent, seek to partner in addressing the challenges we face. Our ability to speak in one voice as an institution -- one participative, inclusive, thoughtful and positive voice -- will help us navigate the current challenging environment with minimum anxiety and maximum confidence in the future.
Issac Ortega, ASUA
Mark Napier, APAC
Lynn Nadel, Faculty Senate
Zach Brooks, GPSC
Sheri Hill, SAC