Matt Schroeder, Executive VP of Finance, has been meeting with the Deans about their budgets. Matt has told the Provost and the Deans that the colleges must take another $17 million in new budget cuts. The Med School is excluded from these new cuts.
Matt’s Narrative is to cut academics, meaning programs and faculty. The General Fund (academic budget) has generated surplus for years, but Matt continues to project academic budget deficits that never materialize. He uses the projected deficits to extract academic cuts from the Deans. Because enrollment has declined, the knee-jerk reaction is to cut programs and faculty even though the academic enterprise is generating surplus.
Matt disavows advocating faculty cuts, saying that faculty cuts are up to the Provost. But he did advocate faculty cuts last October 2022 when he told the Senate we are overstaffed by 300 faculty.
The latest $17 million cut in college budgets means that there could be faculty cuts in some colleges. Because tenured faculty are protected under Article 19 of the T/TT CBA, any cuts after part-time and visiting faculty cuts will be the Lecturers under Article 8.6.1 of the Lecturer CBA. This allows Lecturers to be cut based on staffing needs.
Only one Lecturer has been terminated under Article 8.6.1 and this was reversed in an arbitration won last year by the UT-AAUP. In that case the Administration used six graduate students to replace a terminated Senior Lecturer in the classroom. This was rejected by the Arbitrator who ordered the Lecturer be reinstated with full back pay.
The Administration has now proposed amending Article 8.6.1 to allow Lecturers to be replaced by graduate students in the classroom. This of course is being rejected by the UT-AAUP Executive Board.
Meanwhile, Matt has asked the Provost about eliminating all of the Lecturers. The total Lecturer wages and benefits are less than $10 million, about 2.5% of the General Fund and about 1% of the total budget. Lecturers teach over 51% of the FTEs and generate over $125 million in revenue. How could a finance officer contemplate eliminating a low-paid work force that is generating over 50% of the revenue? Madness!
Matt’s Narrative of projected budget deficits year after year and academic budget cuts have harmed the UT academic mission. His Narrative of doom and gloom has caused a toxic environment on campus. Employees including faculty are leaving. Over 100 UT-AAUP bargaining unit faculty have left UT over the past four years.
As reported in earlier newsletters, the UT-AAUP analysis of UT finances is posted on the UT-AAUP website. It does not support Matt’s Narrative of doom and gloom.
Printed copies of the financial analysis in binders have been distributed to the Board of Trustees, to the provost and to a number of the Deans. It has been favorably received. It is based on audited UT financials and data reported by UT to the Federal and State governments.
This is the first of several newsletters designed to provide faculty with updates on important matters including negotiations. A UT-AAUP faculty meeting will also be scheduled.
UT-AAUP Executive Board