Letter to the Community

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March 31, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

We received confirmation late Monday that Governor Rell has decided to exercise her statutory authority to rescind another 2% from our current state appropriation (FY09).  You'll recall that earlier this year, 3% was rescinded under this authority, which allows the governor to rescind up to 5% per year without legislative approval.

The rescission earlier this year amounted to about a $12M impact on the University.  The further 2% amounts to about $6M more.  Given that we are entering the last quarter of the fiscal year, this will be very challenging for us to absorb, but I am confident in our ability to generate the needed savings or revenues.

Fortunately, the Cost, Operations, & Revenue Efficiencies (CORE) Task Force has continued its good work.  We already are implementing recommendations from its initial report and those actions will assist us in addressing this most recent rescission and the potential impact on our FY10 and FY11 budgets.

In addition, the senior administration has been working closely with me throughout the year and with deans and department heads to develop permanent strategies to achieve cost savings and efficiencies.

We've achieved considerable positive results through these efforts and through the innovative and collaborative efforts of all of you.  I want you to know that I'm very grateful for your efforts and the ideas you've shared with me and the CORE Task Force.  Please continue to submit your ideas to CORE at:   http://core.uconn.edu/.

To be sure, these are not easy times.  We will, of course, continue to limit any hiring to only essential positions and to strictly limit all institutional spending, including spending on professional travel.  In addition, I think it's important to recognize that we will likely need to take further steps to curtail activities and programs that are less central to our core missions of teaching and research.  Each time we must contemplate such actions, it’s with sadness and a sense of loss.  Every activity adds value to our campus and to our students' experiences; and I know that many of you have worked hard to develop these programs over many years.

I ask that we all be particularly sensitive to one another during these challenging times, recognizing that it is often as difficult to turn down promising requests as it is to have them turned down.  UConn is a community of vision, strength, and kindness and I'm grateful that I can count on these characteristics now to help us move forward, even in the midst of hardship.

Sincerely,

Mike

Michael J. Hogan
President
UConn
President@uconn.edu