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Thursday, March 28, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

All UF students should stand up to cuts

First, they came for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Department. But we must speak out, even if we are not computer scientists.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one speaking out on something causing UF to be the target of recent nationwide criticism.

Facing budget cuts, UF is planning to do some serious damage to the CISE department. The university plans to move all of CISE’s degree programs, most advising staff and many other faculty members to other departments.

Other CISE staff will be eliminated.

The story was picked up by Steven Salzberg and published by Forbes, which made the story a hit nationwide. Harsh criticism about the proposed changes has poured in from around the country.

Notably, professor Zvi Galil, dean of computing at Georgia Tech, sent a public letter to UF President Bernie Machen that said he was “amazed, shocked and angered” at the “reckless” proposal.

We’ve heard it many times over: Almost every field relies on computer science and information technology in some way, and for economic and technological reasons, the CISE is the last department that should have its funding cut. But this budget crisis highlights a recent history of funding issues at UF.

UF administrators are facing tough budget constraints. During my time at UF, every year has brought some new budget challenge.

Even if the proposed CISE changes were withdrawn, a similar battle would have to be fought next year. This is the constant battle at UF: Budget cuts come in from the state, or we face some other funding issue that results in small cuts made in many departments.

These small cuts have huge long-term effects on the quality of the departments and push us away from excellence and toward mediocrity. In this case, it’s much more than a small cut, and it will likely make the prominent CISE department irrelevant.

All students should oppose the drastic changes proposed for the CISE department. We can’t accept near eliminations of entire departments because of a particularly rough financial year. Instead, students and staff should demand the CISE department survive this year without any major restructuring. Then we have to focus on developing new ways to fund UF’s many departments, at the state level and otherwise.

If you are from another department, you might wonder why you should care about the changes to the CISE department, especially because the CISE cuts were proposed to prevent damage to other (your) departments. But won’t similar budget troubles be faced next year? And doesn’t inaction now set a precedent of tolerance for other drastic department cuts? And might the cuts then affect your department?

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There’s no hiding the effects of budget cuts. We’ve dropped significantly in U.S. news rankings over the past couple of years; if action isn’t taken now, we’re going to have a tough time staying on the road to academic excellence.

And we’re certainly going to have trouble if the governor’s office doesn’t prioritize education. Gov. Rick Scott has a nasty history with education funding, and he clearly shows little care in this matter for his constituency, because Floridians care about education.

It’s our duty to ensure that those in office share our views on education. But in the meantime, all students should oppose drastic, rash budget cuts to the CISE department. A precedent for the entire university is at stake.

Abdul Zalikha is a biology and English junior at UF. His column appears on Wednesdays.

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