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Key Indicator Summary
The university has already achieved some of the three-year milestones, and except for the undergraduate student input measures dealing with the test scores of students coming in, there is progress being made in spite of some set back. In spite of fiscal liability, UK will continue to try to make progress.
President Todd asked if there were any questions for Provost Subbaswamy on any of the information he presented. He then continued with his report to the Board.
F.      Budget Presentation
President Todd began his budget presentation by talking about Governor Steve Beshear's budget address. Prior to the address, he and his staff were informed that there would be a 12 percent budget cut. This would be in addition to a previous 3 percent budget cut. He reported that $50 million was cut out of a $300 million base. He said that his feelings were that of grief. At first, he got angry and questioned why it happened. He became angry because he thought UK was getting its message across, and for once higher education was going to be put on a road with the business plan that had been written, endorsed, and supported. He then became embarrassed because he had brought staff such as Dr. Karpf, Dr. Subbaswamy, and Dr. James Tracy to the University of Kentucky when they had options to be at top five universities. The faculty and staff hopes were up because they thought the university would move forward. There were 210 faculty members hired, which is 56 percent of the American graduates from the top 20 institutions such as Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and MIT. The budget cut was extremely disappointing to him. He said he then remembered the bottom line of a story that Mr. Jim Stuckert, chair of the capital campaign, told him about a consultant, "what is is ~ deal with it." And, that is what UK has to do.
President Todd said that there were a couple of things that happened that gave him tremendous faith in the institution. He and his staff went to the legislative session and worked to get the 12 percent budget cut down to 3 percent. This was not where he wanted it to be. It is $40 million below what he was hoping for this year. It was a time higher education was still being discussed behind the conference room doors. The university has some good friends in the legislature that were trying to do their best to find funds to get UK back to where it needed to be. They know that the business plan is still out there, and they feel some responsibility for it. He took some consolation in that.
President Todd said that a basket of flowers were delivered to his office the day following the budget address from a faculty member on campus. The note with the flowers said, "Hang in there." Another faculty member expressed gladness that the decision was made to not give salary increases, and keep the cost of tuition down so it would not be in the double digits. E-mails were sent to him in response to his campus e-mails thanking him for the communications.
President Todd told of Mrs. Todd's first meeting of the Women & Philanthropy organization where he talked about the collaboratives and Provost Subbaswamy's retreat with the