Faculty Finance Committee Minutes
December 12, 2006
10:00 – 11:00
Attendance
Monika Ardelt; Sam Brown; Kenny Merz; David Pharies; Paul Robinson; Andrea Sterk; Caroline Wiltshire; Paul D'Anieri, Dean
Absent: David Daegling; Paul Robinson; Neil Sullivan
Minutes
- The meeting began at 10:34am.
- David opened the meeting with a report on the most recent Faculty Council meeting, which he attended in his ex-officio capacity.
Dean D'Anieri was present at the Faculty Council meeting, a substantial portion of which addressed budgetary issues.
- In case further cuts are necessary, the Faculty Council urged the Dean to be open and to include CLAS faculty when making decisions; in response, the Dean argued that too much openness can be dangerous.
- Dean D'Anieri said that in case further cuts were necessary, departments and centres would be viewed in relation to four key criteria:
- contribution to teaching
- program quality
- centrality to mission
- functionality/efficiency;
- The Finance Committee members considered these criteria and found them to be quite appropriate.
- The Dean noted that cuts in excess of one or two million dollars would likely be vertical; he also noted that CLAS is more sensitive to cuts in state funding than are certain other Colleges, arguing against across-the-board cuts UF-wide.
- Discussion then turned to the matter of producing a specific document for the Dean. It was suggested that we pay closer attention to the four criteria listed by the Dean, elaborating upon them and considering how they might be weighted.
- Our final decision was that David would consult the Dean on the current state of the decision-making process and ask how the Committee can be of help at this stage.
- The meeting ended at 11:44am.
