Short Response to the UNCG Chancellor's email regarding the budget situation.

One the eve of a vote of no confidence, the UNCG Chancellor sent out an email showing the enrollment and budget challenges of UNCG. One can't argue that enrollment has declined and that a large decline in enrollment has affected the budget. But, what is telling about the email is that it does not tell the full story and does not connect budget changes to enrollment.  And, says nothing about revenue generation which the most important challenge. So here are some bullet points of issues that were not covered:

• What is the total dollar of cuts to the operating budget that have occurred over the last 3 years?
• It does not include a link to the approved positions over the last three years, or what position request have been denied. Doing so might show a strategy that would be useful to people
• F&A recovery from research grants is predictable. It is reimbursement for administrative and facilities cost of doing research. F&A never covers the full cost of doing research. So, each dollar of F&A recovered replaces a dollar that the university would have to spend from operating funds for research administration and for the costs of maintaining research facilities. The charts do not show the impact of the provost's decisions to not effectively retain researchers with respect to F&A recovery projections.
• The graphs also do not show unrestricted endowment, which is also predictable, and can be used to support academic excellence.
• The email only discusses budget cuts. The only way UNCG can be sustainable into the future is to increase net revenue. The email does not discuss how UNCG plans to do that and how to incentivize units to recruit students that wouldn't come here otherwise (instead of causing competition within UNCG between pre-health programs) and develop programs (online or in person) to solve the revenue problem. It is impossible to cut an organization to sustainability.
• The email does not think of UNCG as a system. The email assumes that if we cut academic programs and spending in academic affairs, that enrollments will not be affected. But, increased student: faculty ratios: reductions in the university's research reputation; and the loss of programs and core gen ed disciplines is likely to cause a decline in enrollment. Why come to UNCG for community college sorts of expectations of academic departments and higher student:faculty ratios when a student can go to 17 other schools in NC, including Charlotte which is not land locked and can continue to grow?
• Finally, the email once again shows the failure of the process. There is not a strategy or plan for UNCG to succeed. Rather, there are just tactics. In this case budget cutting and some vague notion of investing into stronger programs, but no discussion of how that will increase enrollment with a strategy. The email shows an administration that is myopic about cutting its way to sustainability and excellence.  If there is an academic institution that has done so, please let me know.