UF's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences could implement a multi-year hiring freeze and eliminate its critical-tracking program if it heeds the budget-cutting recommendations of the college's Faculty Finance Committee.
The committee released its final plan Monday to reduce CLAS' 2008-2009 budget by $3 million - with some warnings.
CLAS Interim Dean Joe Glover asked the committee in January to recommend cuts in response to this year's reduced legislative funding and to cover expected future cuts.
The plan proposes $2 million worth of cuts at the college level and 1 percent cut from every department's budget. The cuts would be permanent, the committee wrote.
Budget problems are nothing new for the college, but these slashes could cause major harm to UF's largest college, the committee warned in the report.
"We are no longer merely cutting flesh and bone in CLAS," the committee wrote. "We are now removing organs and hoping that we can get along without them."
When Glover took his interim position in January 2007, the college was $6 million in debt. It was reduced to about $4.5 million by December.
Only $1 million of the debt currently remains, but it should be paid off by the end of the year without help from the newest proposed cuts.
The committee's report states the college-wide $2 million cuts would most likely cause a multi-year hiring freeze and endanger the critical tracking program - the program that helps students take the classes they need to graduate on time.
"It probably means there are going to be fewer classes and the classes are going to be bigger," said Elizabeth Dale, committee chairwoman. "And I don't know how long that's going to last."
Dale said the committee would issue another report at the end of the semester detailing how CLAS should deal with the hypothetical 6 percent budget cut UF President Bernie Machen presented at a Faculty Senate meeting Feb. 21.
UF will have a better idea about the amount of future cuts when the Legislature meets in March.
In the meantime, Dale said Glover has asked all department chairs to decide if the proposals are feasible.
Glover declined to comment.
