UNI Legislative Update
The Office of Governmental Relations provides legislative updates to the campus community through online communication and bimonthly campus presentations. These updates will inform faculty, staff and students of hot topics facing the legislature and legislative actions affecting UNI and the Regents institutions.
January 30, 2008
President Allen at the Capitol
UNI President Ben Allen, along with the presidents at Iowa State and the University of Iowa, appeared before the Joint Education Appropriation Subcommittee yesterday in Des Moines. This is an annual presentation the Regent university presidents give to the all important "Ed-Approps" committee to make the case to adequately fund the Regent institutions.
Here's the recap from the Courier...
Regents presidents say thanks for budget boost
By DAN GEARINO, Courier Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES --- A year after one of the largest funding increases in recent memory, Iowa's university presidents said "thank you" a lot more than they said "please" Tuesday in their annual meeting with lawmakers.
"I hope you won't get tired of hearing thank you today," said University of Iowa President Sally Mason.
The meeting, between the state Board of Regents-governed university presidents and the legislative committee that oversees education spending, is often a plea for more money. The dynamic has changed after Gov. Chet Culver and the Legislature last year gave the universities a boost of $66 million for pay raises and program improvements.
"That helped us get out of the hole of the tough budget years," said Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy.
The governor's 2008-09 budget proposal gives the universities $681 million for basic operations, an increase of $10.4 million. The figures don't include money from other parts of the budget that are used for the universities, such as $10 million for building construction and $4.7 million for a math-science teaching initiative.
University of Northern Iowa President Ben Allen spoke on behalf of the teaching initiative, in which he is taking a leading role. The program is called STEM, which is short for the four areas of emphasis: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The three universities would work together to recruit and train students to teach those subjects in the K-12 system.
The presidents said they used last year's funding increases to slow the growth of tuition and retain top faculty.
Mason, who was provost at Purdue University in Indiana until last year, said her old university recruited several top people away from Iowa because the state's salaries were not competitive.
"Once quality is lost, restoration can take generations," she said.
Sen. Frank Wood, D-Eldridge, the co-chairman of the budget panel, said he expects all sides to be satisfied with university funding for the upcoming year.
"I hope we can continue to be supporting the Regents. They're asking for a number of areas of increase and I think we're close," he said.
This was Mason's first appearance before the committee. Allen made his first appearance last year. Geoffroy is the veteran in the group, hired in 2001.
Allen said he has already bonded with the other two presidents over their shared defeats in men's basketball.
"We have become very close this year because we have all been beaten by Drake," he said.