New Video: BOT Votes To Cut 4 Majors

Tuition, UCF Administration, Videos — By Staff on July 23, 2009 at 12:46 am

On the day UCF’s Board of Trustees voted to slash four degree programs and suspend one, KnightNews.com crews had their cameras rolling from the start of the protests until the final Board of Trustees vote was cast on Thursday, July 23.

We’ve pieced together a timeline, complete with some of the most compelling footage of the day to take you through the painful process as we saw it.

It started with some faculty and their megaphone:

We then talked to students watching the rally. Some were directly affected by the cuts. And the others we talked to that weren’t, couldn’t imagine being in the shoes of students about to be losing their majors:

We watched faculty and students march from the Student Union to the Live Oak Ballroom, where they made their final stand to try and stop the cuts:

During the meeting, Faculty Senate Chair and Trustee Ida Cook gave an emotional plea to the board to postpone its decision to cut four programs. She couldn’t hold back her tears:

UCF Provost Terry Hickey, who proposed the cuts, explained to the board why he felt the decision to cut the programs, which would cost nearly 40 jobs, was needed:

BOT Chairman Rick Walsh made a motion to vote on trustee Cook’s request to postpone the decision to another day, and then moved to vote on the proposal to cut the programs:

Only Cook and Student Body President Brian Peterson voted against cutting the four degrees. We caught up with President Peterson after the vote:

Related Links:

UCF’s News and Information department issued this release following the vote.

Our live updates of the BOT meeting as well as Thursday’s original article can be found below:

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.

UCF’s Board of Trustees voted in favor of the proposal to cut Management Information Systems, Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Engineering Technology and Radiological Sciences.

KnightNews.com is working to gather more details and provide them as quickly as we can.

Check back for updates.

UPDATE 2:32 p.m.

Two trustees are making things a bit more difficult for UCF administrators trying to push program cuts through during the Board of Trustees meeting happening now.

Trustee Ida Cook, who is also the chair of UCF’s Faculty Senate, made a motion to table, or postpone voting on the proposal to cut four degree programs until her questions about administrative costs could be answered.

Student Government Association President Brian Peterson, who is the only student trustee, seconded her motion. Peterson was the only trustee to vote against recommending the cuts at a BOT committee meeting last week.

UCF President John Hitt and BOT Chairman Rick Walsh both opposed the motion to postpone voting on the cuts.

Cook became emotional during the debate, and said she wanted to see specific data regarding administrative costs.

Her motion was defeated. Only Cook, Peterson and trustee Micky Grindstaff voted in favor of postponing making the decision about cutting programs until more information about administrative costs could be gathered.

UPDATE 12:55 P.M.

Fewer protesters showed up today than during the last protest, but they made their point by holding signs that read “shame.”

The protesters moved from the area outside the Student Union to the Live Oak Room near Marketplace to watch as the Board of Trustees decides whether to cut the degree programs.

KnightNews.com has a crew at the BOT meeting.

Check back for updates.

Photo From Today’s Protest

degreecutprotest_01
ORIGINAL STORY:
At 1 p.m. today the future of four UCF degree programs will be decided by the Board of Trustees.

Management information systems, cardiopulmonary sciences, engineering technology and radiological sciences are all on the chopping block.

If the BOT swings the ax, 37 UCF employees will face unemployment and more than 1,000 students will lose their majors.

UCF would also save $4.6 million dollars with their deletion – something administrators say is needed to maintain the university’s quality of education during this “historic budget crisis.”

A UCF Board of Trustees committee already recommended the full board approve the cuts at a meeting on July 13.

Faculty and students protested the cuts then, and they plan to do so again at 11:45 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. in the open area between the Student Union and breezeway. The group then plans to move to the Live Oak Room in time to watch the 1 p.m. BOT meeting.

While UCF Provost Terry Hickey has released statements saying the cuts are needed, UCF’s faculty union released statements claiming UCF has $140 million in “unrestricted net assets” to cover the cost.

Hickey’s statement blames an approximately $17 million budget shortfall at the beginning of the 2011-12 fiscal year when federal stimulus money runs out as one reason the cuts are needed.

He has also said there are restrictions on the $140 million. A statement on the faculty union Web site said UCF refuses to specify exactly what those restrictions are, despite its repeated requests.

Related Links:

Watch our previous coverage here:

5 Comments

asdf says:

July 23, 2009 at 6:03 pm

They are the second largest THIS YEAR. This is our first layoff at UCF, other schools have been doing layoffs since the economy started to fall, with many layoffs last year.
Concerned Faculty says:

July 23, 2009 at 5:04 pm

Why do call the Faculty Union’s response to the Provosts “statement” an “accusation”? Have you reserached the facts and the disagreement they represent? Has it occurred to you that perhaps a bunch of Ph.Ds who are working at UCF and are specialists in their field might have some concrete research and important data to offer that the BOT might want to listen to? Does the Provost really just get to make up stuff and spread misinformation – and not be called on it – by the BOT or the media??

And Joel,
you might not know this, but the program cuts at UCF are the SECOND largest layoff in the State Univeristy System – other schools are not laying off anyboyu – others are finding better ways to save money (e.g. cut bloated administration rather than cut teacher sand classes.)
JOEL C says:

July 23, 2009 at 1:00 am

Couple of things to add:

1. There is a 2 year program to fade out these majors so current Juniors and Seniors will still be able to graduate with them.

2. These Changes will only affect majors that are under-utilized at the university and No large (Bigger that 1500/2000 Students) Majors are under the chopping block.

3. This is far better than some other Florida Schools who have seen major changes this year, and do not give Juniors or Seniors the chance to graduate. We should be thankful that we are at UCF and Not FSU or UF.

Joel c