The 2008 Session: Progress on building projects, but faculty raises are smaller

State legislators confronted the realities of a slowing economy during their 2008 session. But despite tightening revenues, the General Assembly made commitments to capital projects that are key to the future of UNC-Chapel Hill and other state universities.

“We’re trying to build our universities. We’re trying to build our infrastructure. We’re trying to build the things that will continue to make our state great,” Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, declared during a budget debate. “We’re doing the right thing.”

Among the right things they did were to approve:

• $35 million to plan and develop the Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC), the state’s next step in the battle against cancer.  The center will be home to much of the research associated with the University Cancer Research Fund that legislators created last year.  In addition, legislators committed to provide another $220 million to complete BRIC over the next two years.
• $69 million in debt for expansion of the School of Dentistry – a $125 million project for which the General Assembly has already provided $30 million.
• UNC Health Care’s use of $16.3 million to begin planning a new inpatient bed tower and operating-room facility with a total projected cost of $732 million.
• Authority for the UNC Board of Governors to create an airport authority to build a replacement for Horace Williams Airport.
• $11.5 million to plan a new School of Law and infrastructure for the first phase of development at the new Carolina North campus.
• $1.8 million to plan renovation of Morehead Planetarium.

But after two years of healthy raises – 6 percent in 2006 and 5 percent in 2007 – UNC faculty received average raises of just 3 percent in the $21.4 billion budget for 2008-09.

That’s better than many states granted this year, but it does little to aid UNC’s efforts to raise faculty pay to the 80th percentile when compared with our peer institutions.  We regret that more revenue was not available to pursue this important goal.

UNC also faces $16 million in budget cuts to be allocated systemwide by the Board of Governors.  The state Senate, in particular, resisted efforts by the House to exempt certain campuses. 

The Senate also insisted on keeping a commitment legislators made two years ago to honor the UNC system’s request for $34.6 million to meet growth in enrollment for 2008-09.  Citizens for Higher Education worked hard to help secure that commitment two years ago, and worked hard again this year to convince House members to keep it.

The 2008 General Assembly approved funds for other significant University programs as well:

• $15 million for campus safety improvements across the UNC system.
• $4.6 million in matching funds for grants from the Spangler Foundation to establish distinguished professorships at the 16 UNC campuses.
• $1.75 million for Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) to address workforce shortages and patient care.
• $1.5 million for expansion of the medical schools at Chapel Hill and East Carolina University.  This will enable medical students to spend their third and fourth years in clinical rotations at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and Mission Hospital in Asheville.
• $3 million for the Faculty Recruiting and Retention Fund for UNC President Erskine Bowles to offer targeted salary increases to faculty across the system.
• $1 million for a Research Competitiveness Fund that began last year.  The UNC president can use the funds to invest in research in such areas as nanotechnology and biofuels that are essential to the state’s economic competitiveness.
• $1.5 million for tuition waivers to recruit top-tier graduate students in science and mathematics.