The Save CISE movement is officially online.
Forbes.com, a business news website, posted an article Sunday condemning a proposal that would restructure UF’s Computer and Information and Science Engineering department. The proposal, which was created by College of Engineering Dean Cammy Abernathy, is a response to a $4 million budget cut by the state legislature.
The article referenced the University Athletic Association’s increased budget, but the author later acknowledged those funds are separate from UF’s.
In about 48 hours, the Forbes.com article garnered about 370,000 views and was shared about 68,000 times on Facebook.
Ph.D. student Nuri Yeralan, 28, one of the leaders in the movement to save the department, said he’s excited the issue is getting national exposure.
In a statement posted Monday evening on the Forbes website, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said the author falsely wrote that UF “is eliminating the Computer Science Department.”
PolitiFact.com, a fact-checking website run primarily by the Tampa Bay Times, rated the Forbes claim as half true.
Many critics of the proposed plan have asked why the cuts aren’t being applied across all 10 College of Engineering departments.
According to Sikes’ statement, Abernathy’s proposal will not lay off any tenure-track faculty, but cuts across the board could result in layoffs.
Abernathy told students her industry contacts have responded positively to the proposal, but the Forbes article shows a different side of the issue, Yeralan said.
Because Forbes’ readers are mainly businessmen, learning about the potential cut could make them re-evaluate sending recruiters to UF, he said.
“I think people are having those conversations now in a very serious way,” Yeralan said. “They’re actually wary about what’s happening at UF.”
Contact Julia Glum at jglum@alligator.org.
