Faculty assail UMass Amherst budget cuts

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are criticizing Chancellor Robert C. Holub's decision to freeze hiring and cut spending by $12 million in response to reduced state subsidies, contending he should instead tap reserves to offset the lost revenue.

"This proposal cuts into the heart of the academic mission of the campus, and students will be the ones who suffer as their education is undermined," said Dan Clawson, a sociology professor.

The university's main faculty union, The Massachusetts Society of Professors, said the university should use money set aside for future building projects to avoid cuts to academic departments.

"The fact that the chancellor is choosing to cut academic departments and stop hiring faculty, rather than taking money from existing reserves, shows that he is using this 'budget crisis' to implement his own agenda without consulting campus constituencies," said Max Page, union president.

Holub said the spending cuts, which represent about five percent of the campus budget, are necessary to avoid tuition increases and preserve financial aid following Governor Deval Patrick's announcement this week that he will slash the state budget by more than $1 billion.

In a letter to the university community Wednesday, Holub acknowledged that the one-time cuts will be "difficult and painful," but said current fiscal realities left no other choice.

"By taking these one-time budget actions now, we will not request mid-year fee increases, nor will we make cuts to student financial aid," Holub wrote. "But it is important to note that these are temporary measures for this fiscal year only.

"Virtually all economic indicators predict that this downturn is significant and will not be easily reversed – here in Massachusetts or around the world. Therefore, we must immediately begin discussions to deal strategically with this fiscal crisis and the base budget reductions these cuts represent in the next fiscal year’s budget."

Holub said he had asked the provost's office to develop strategies to recruit faculty that would center on proposals from current faculty.

University spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said the campus has a $1.4 billion backlog in maintenance projects and that improvements are critical to the school's success.