In response to continued budgetary woes and statewide revenue shortfalls, University officials have imposed an indefinite hiring and discretionary spending freeze.
With the Commonwealth's failure to meet 2002 expected revenue levels by $237 million, Gov. Mark R. Warner called last week for the heads of all Virginia institutions of higher education to significantly curtail spending.
"In light of this situation, I must now ask each of you to be personally accountable for monitoring your agency's expenditures to ensure that only the most essential items relating to the core services of your agency are filled," Warner said in a July 23 memorandum.
University officials have asked the school's deans and vice presidents to evaluate planned expenditures and defer any discretionary spending, which includes all excess expenditures, until state legislators release the year's revised revenue forecast Aug. 19.
"In tough financial times, we intend to place priority on our academic programs which are core to the University's purpose," said Leonard W. Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We are focused on protecting the quality of our instructional programs and we are committed to that outcome."
Though deans will maintain their autonomy to manage current resources within their operating budgets, University officials imposed the freeze to preserve the institution's overall flexibility until further financial data become available.
But because of the magnitude of Virginia's revenue shortfall, Warner suggested that economic forecasts for the 2003 and 2004 fiscal years are overly optimistic, which may prolong the freeze indefinitely.
However, in the administration's pledge to protect the University's primary educational objectives, some exceptions to the hiring freeze may be made, said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget.
"Our objective is to protect our core instructional mission so it is likely we will have to make exceptions to the freeze in some instances where it will negatively impact our ability to deliver courses," Sheehy said.
Sandridge added that the University is most concerned about the schools which depend disproportionately on state tax money, with the College being the largest of these.
As with other University schools, the College imposed its own hiring freeze last fall in an effort to reduce costs. Administrators also reduced faculty travel, recruiting costs and overall departmental budgets under the pressure of a tightening fiscal allowance.
But as classes continue to swell beyond capacity, some departments, including politics, economics and psychology, are still operating below their allotment of tenure-track professors, College Dean Edward L. Ayers said.
"In every case, we have tried to protect students from the worst effects of the cuts," Ayers said.
In an effort to meet demand for classes and hold its student-to-faculty ratio constant at about 15:1, Ayers has previously turned to hiring temporary faculty to teach additional courses.
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