Bowles rallies supporters to lobby for UNC

The News & Observer
Sunday, May 31, 2009

UNC system President Erskine Bowles is calling in reinforcements in the battle over the budget.

Bowles sent e-mail messages to the UNC Board of Governors and the UNC system's chancellors, asking them to activate their supporters to contact legislators over the weekend and early this week. And he offered talking points with the clear message that an 11 percent budget cut, now under discussion in the House, "would have severe and lasting negative impacts on student access and the quality of education our universities can offer."

He included contact information for the House budget committee members and urged a quick campaign by university supporters to stave off 8 percent tuition increases and $337 million in cuts.

"If cuts of that magnitude are implemented," he wrote, "students on every UNC campus will see 1) larger classes; 2) less student advising and counseling; 3) higher faculty/student ratios; 4) lower retention and graduation rates; 5) delayed classroom upgrades and laboratory renovations; 6) fewer security personnel; 7) reductions in library services; and 8) reductions in maintenance."

Bowles said he understood the severity of the recession and the difficult choices required of lawmakers, but warned that "while it takes generations to build a great University like UNC, that hard-won quality and reputation will erode quickly if it is not adequately funded and sustained."