The 45-day hiring and spending freeze that began in August and was supposed to end this week will be extended three more weeks, until Oct. 15th.
Satish Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, released an e-mail message to university employees stating that the moratorium will continue, prohibiting any new hires to faculty and staff and any purchases that exceed $5,000.
"This extension will provide additional time to learn more about the budgetary impact so we can make informed decisions," Tripathi said in the message.
The university does make exceptions for any purchases or hires that are necessary to its educational mission, however.
"We are still hiring for health and safety purposes and where it is absolutely imperative for a program or mission," said Dennis Black, vice president of Student Affairs.
According to the provost, the university is using this time to understand the implications of Governor Paterson's 10 percent cuts to state agency spending, including the SUNY system, in August.
The allotment of cuts to schools in the SUNY system is expected to release in mid-October, when UB's moratorium is scheduled to end.
"Right now we're still learning more about what the government and SUNY are going to do," Black said. "Frankly, we don't want to make too many major decisions here without fully understanding that."
Until then, Tripathi has been gathering information from the University-Wide Strategic Financial Management Advisory Group, which is helping determine the impact of budget cuts on the school.
Tripathi met with President John B. Simpson and other university leaders on Friday to discuss the budget situation, but no definitive budget decisions could be made until more is known about UB's share of cuts.
The meeting did establish that UB 2020 and the campus mission to be a premiere research university is still the top priority, and that in order to support this mission the budget cuts will be made in specific areas of the campus rather than across-the-board reductions to every programs' funding.
"With trying to improve the quality of the institution, we have to think about where to cut more and where to cut less," Tripathi said.
The type and the number of programs to receive a reduction in spending have yet to be determined.
The moratorium has had little effect on students, other than some offices that offer student services having less staff than last year and fewer hours for student workers, according to Black.
The Student Association (SA), which is funded by the Student Activity Fee, is not attached to the state budget and thus campus clubs and SA events will not be affected.
A Web site will be created in order to collect more input from the campus community on ways to deal with the budget cuts. Tripathi encourages students and faculty to voice their opinions on the matter by e-mailing him.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
