Minneapolis, MN – The Chop from the Top Coalition at the University of Minnesota, which includes undergraduate & graduate students, staff and faculty, blasted the budget proposal that University President Bob Bruinicks presented at a meeting of the Board of Regents, May 14th

Professor Teri Caraway, Political Science said, “Many faculty are willing to take bigger pay cuts so that low-paid staff can be spared furloughs. Faculty for the Renewal of Public Education offered a resolution to the Faculty Senate for a sliding scale pay cut. We think that a sliding scale provides a better—and fairer—way to balance the budget. Many other universities have adopted sliding scales. Unfortunately, President Bruininks objected to the sliding scale proposal, so we ended up with a very regressive plan.

“Bruininks is expected again to propose raising tuition rates, cutting departmental budgets and staffing cuts. However, as Eli Meyerhoff of Graduate Student Workers United and graduate student in Political Science stated, “The administrators keep bloating their own bureaucracy-doubling their ranks since 2000.” He continued, “Whatever budget cuts need to be taken should start with them!”

“While the budget for public education gets slashed, over 250 administrators at the University of Minnesota earn more than $200,000 per year. Increasing layoffs and threatened furloughs reduce vital services for students. Furloughs are a pay cut, and front line staff are already struggling to get by,” says Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800 and coalition member.H.F. 1671, the state legislature's supplemental budget bill that was signed into law on April 1st includes the following rider, “The Board of Regents is requested to consider, if feasible, making voluntary for its lowest paid employees any furlough program designed to meet budget shortfalls.”

The Chop from the Top Coalition calls upon the Board of Regents to discuss voluntary furloughs and sliding scale pay cuts rather than mandatory furloughs and across the board cuts.

“The Chop from the Top Coalition of undergraduate students, graduate students, staff and faculty will continue to speak out against the injustice happening on our campus. Students shouldn’t be asked to again stomach tuition hikes while administrators who earn upwards of $200,000 dollars aren’t being asked to pay their fair share,” added Stephanie Taylor of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota.

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