YULEE - UF's highest-ranking officials met Thursday to discuss ways to slash $50 million from UF's budget - an amount UF President Bernie Machen said UF should aim to cut next year to make up for legislative funding shortfalls.
During the first day of a retreat at White Oak Plantation Thursday, Machen told the Board of Trustees, UF's highest governing body, that across-the-board cuts weren't the answer, but he wouldn't reveal which departments would receive deeper cuts than others.
He said he has a good idea of which cuts should be made, and he would suggest them at the board's next meeting in March. He didn't want the information to "hit the campus from Yulee," he said.
The board will meet today to develop more plans to reduce the budget.
Machen said after the meeting that he would consider proposing an operating fund that would raise donations to cover the budget shortcomings.
The fund would be separate from UF's endowment, which is donor-restricted, he said.
As they discussed barriers to making cuts, including UF's low tuition and poor student-faculty ratio, the trustees tried to target UF's principle mission for the next few years to focus which areas could be targeted for cuts.
"First and foremost, we are a public research university," Machen said. "We are a pretty damn good one."
