A Note from the Director

JUNE 17, 2009

Effective this coming fiscal year (beginning July 1, 2009), there has been a recommendation to substantially reduce the (“state”) funding of the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. If this recommendation is implemented, it will certainly be a fiscal challenge to the Center’s operations in the short term. However, the proposed reduction in funding will not interfere with the Center’s ability to carry out its existing obligations nor will it limit our ability to undertake research and engagement activities for the benefit of Nebraska and the nation in the near or long term. The proposed reductions in state monies impact less than 10% of the Center’s expenditures. Like other University units, the Public Policy Center has done some preliminary contingency planning in the event of a budget reduction. We will continue to explore a variety of strategies over the upcoming months to identify efficiencies, re-examine our priorities, and ensure we are able to manage the budget reduction in ways that continue to advance the Center’s and University’s missions.

As UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman recognized in his statement announcing his decision to recommend a reduction in the Center’s state funding, the Public Policy Center has increased its projects and funding each year for the past four years. The Chancellor anticipates the Center’s growth trajectory in the future, based on our history of successes, will allow us to cover the costs of our operations that will offset a reduction in state funds. We agree.

The staff members of the Center are cognizant of the difficult position the University of Nebraska has been placed in because of the recent economic downturn and in light of the less than optimal appropriation the University received from the Legislature this past session. A shared sacrifice is required across the University, and other individuals and units at the University will have outcomes far worse than the Public Policy Center. We sympathize with the many others in our community and across the nation (and globe) who have been and will be economically impacted to a far greater degree than we.

To read about UNL’s budget cuts, click here.