Bowles: 'I pray' budget cuts won't be too extreme

The News & Observer
June 11, 2010
By Jay Price - Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL -- UNC System President Erskine Bowles told the Board of Governors on Thursday that legislative leaders had assured him that the university system will face budget cuts closer to the $54 million approved by the Senate than the "draconian" $175 million cut passed by the House.

"I pray for our students and for the economic future of North Carolina that it's closer to the Senate side," Bowles said in a news conference after the board meeting.

The legislature is struggling to cover an $800 million revenue shortfall for the state at a time when raising taxes would be all but impossible politically. 

Bowles said he understands that there will have to be cuts but says the House cuts are so extreme that they would destroy the economic and social future of the state. Among other things, they would force the system to eliminate about 1,700 jobs, about 1,000 of them filled and most of those faculty positions. It also would force the 16 universities in the system to slash 6,300 class sections, increasing class sizes and making it harder for students to get classes they need and graduate on time.  Click here to read more.