A long day

So today we met with the Dean and then a meeting with the Faculty of our college. There was minimal movement with regard to changing the plan and saving any of the departments involved. The newest idea is to further share the pain. Rather than taking 100% of our (Geology's) cuts if the budget cuts reach a certain percentage (for example 7% percent), the new plan is to divide the cuts at that level evenly between geology and religion. In the previous plan if a 7% cut was required by the college all of it would have been absorbed by geology. In the revision, a 7% cut would be shared, but an 8% cut would also be shared resulting in the same devastation to our department. This gives us a little more hope that the cuts won't be QUITE as devastating, but this is still not what we hope for. It also should be noted that once the plan goes forward, there is no reason that the Provost and President can't change it and take all, or none of Geology. Right now, those who are interested in fighting this need to push the Florida legislature to fund education and also we need to let the Provost know that these cuts are not acceptable.

On a separate note, the Gainesville Sun had a great op-ed by religion prof Bron Taylor on how we might deal with the budget crisis on a collegial basis. No real groundswell for this option, but count me in!

Cheers

Joe Meert