http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-808118.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – The public has gotten a closer view today of what budget cutbacks may and may not mean to UMKC.
University of Missouri President Gary Foresee ordered scenarios drawn for possible budget cuts of 15 to 25 percent across the four campus system. It would translate to a $19 and a half million dollar reduction on the Kansas City Campus. UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton is taking immediate steps of a hiring freeze, cut on travel and lowering building thermostats. But , on the Miller Nichols Library, the new stadium and student union construction, Morton says,
" There is no plan at this point this would have any impact on those construction plans."
Weight is lent to the strategy by announcement of a one million dollar gift from the charitable Sunderland Foundation. It would specifically be used for the Nichols Library expansion. Still, potential budget reductions, according to Foresee, could force elimination of multiple, large academic departments on each of the four MU system campuses.And salary and wage cuts of from ten to seventeen percent are being sketched in as another possible stopgap measure for each of the campuses.