As the University anticipates a possible 20 percent budget cut over each of the next two years, students are not the only ones voicing concern -- many faculty members already feel impacts from the crisis and are preparing for the worst.
Although students see the effects of budget strains in library hours and printing quotas, professors are experiencing more widespread effects.
Faculty members have not received raises for the last two years, Assoc. Psychology Prof. Angeline Lilliard said, and she expects faculty will not receive raises this year either.
Despite lacking raises, some professors, including Physics Prof. Louis Bloomfield, said current setbacks are forcing them to invest more of their own money when preparing for classes.
"I am gradually paying for more and more demonstration and instructional equipment and supplies out of pocket," Bloomfield said. "I live in fear of losing what little copying budget remains to us: if I can't print up my exams, what will I do?"
Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato also said cuts have forced him to modify the structure of his classes, although he remains optimistic the budget crisis will pass.
"We are making necessary adjustments on Toolkit and providing extra library reserve copies to ensure that students have adequate opportunity to do all readings," Sabato said.
Toolkit is an online resource for students to access course work and material.
But the most pressing concern of many faculty members remains unknown -- what the future will hold. Professors already are considering the long-term setbacks of an unresolved budget deficit.
"Our department is severely understaffed, and the budget cuts make it unlikely that we will be able to recruit much needed additional faculty," Lilliard said. "We will not be able to offer enough courses to comfortably serve our majors."
Economics Prof. Kenneth G. Elzinga said the budget crisis would severely harm the University's reputation if not solved soon.
"The budget cuts nibble away at the quality at the margins of a great University's capital," Elzinga said. "Library acquisitions, the hosting of conferences, opportunities for faculty-student research, etc."
The University will be unable to attract first-rate graduate students and junior faculty, he added.
Bloomfield agrees hiring freezes could harm the University's quality of education.
"New talent and the fresh ideas they bring are the lifeblood of academia, and we're in trouble without them," Bloomfield said. "You can't stop the flow of faculty through U.Va. without diminishing the spirit of the place."
It is important for students and Virginia residents not to underestimate the effects of fiscal reductions, he added.
"The budget cuts do more than remove fat," Bloomfield said. "They really are compromising our central missions, and they really will reduce the level at which we can perform."
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