Chancellor's Office
Quinn Administration, 03, 0054A
Budget Address to the University Community
October 27, 2008
Watch the Video Presentation of the speech
To the president of the University of Massachusetts, Dr. Jack Wilson, who has joined us today for one of his many campus visits—it is always a pleasure to have you with us on the Boston campus, and I am so proud that you are here to stand with this community;
to the faculty, the staff, and students of the University of Massachusetts Boston, you who make this campus a unique and special community;
and to all who may be here visiting us on this harbor campus –
Good morning, and thank you for making yourselves available today so that I could share some thoughts with you regarding recent events that are affecting our university and our campus.
These events are in no way confined to the University of Massachusetts. All the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, every state in this country, and, yes, even the far reaches of the globe have felt the effects of the worldwide financial crisis.
We stand now in the midst of a very difficult time in economic history, during which it might be tempting for each of us to withdraw into a state of inaction generated by a paralyzing fear and anxiety or, even worse, a numbing sense of resignation. But, my friends and colleagues, if this is our response, I fear that we would be ignoring what I see as the truly critical moment in this university community’s history. We would miss, what Liz Walker, the host and executive producer of the television newsmagazine Sunday With Liz Walker, identified for us at the College of Management’s Center for Collaborative Leadership - Emerging Leaders Luncheon (last Thursday) as our Kairos moment. Liz stated that a Kairos moment is that moment, that window of opportunity to which the ancient theologians and teachers of classical rhetoric referred, that must be driven through with urgency and force if one is to succeed. My friends as I have considered the events and announcements of the last weeks, I have become even more convinced that this is, in fact, “Our Time.”
In the past three weeks, we have been absorbing news of declining state revenues and the state budget adjustments outlined by Governor Patrick totaling over one billion dollars. The governor has formulated his package of statewide spending reductions, which he is working with the legislature to finalize.
As a part of this effort, Governor Patrick announced that the Fiscal Year 2009 state appropriation for the University of Massachusetts will be reduced by five percent. This amounts to roughly 5.5 million dollars for the Boston campus.
Each of the five campuses will need to address this budget adjustment in different ways.
As I mentioned in my communiqué of October 17:
- It is our intention here at the University of Massachusetts Boston to address fifty percent of this reduction through the use of reserve and trust funds. We will address the remaining fifty percent through cost reductions.
- We are committed to protecting the core faculty and staff.
- And, assuming no further 9C cuts, the president, chancellors, and trustees will NOT request a mid-semester fee increase; nor will we be making any cuts to student financial aid.
A preliminary plan is due at the President’s Office on November 3. The President’s Office is also contributing by cutting the Central Offices budget.
The formulation of specific responses to these budget adjustments will continue to be transparent and widely inclusive.
- Let me start by saying that we have not made any decisions yet!
- I have asked the vice chancellors to work with their divisions to immediately develop suggestions for cost reductions.
- Four workgroups broadly constituted with members from various units across the campus have been established.
- These four “research/costing” workgroups of practitioners will meet over the course of the next two weeks and willbrainstorm and make recommendations for possible areas for savings:
1. The first is the Utilities Workgroup: We currently spend six million dollars on electricity and over one million dollars on natural gas annually.
- This workgroup will look to save money on utilities by getting our campus to go “more green.”
- This workgroup may launch a big education campaign to teach people to turn off their computers at the end of the day and close fume hoods or shut off fume hoods that are not used for science.
- This workgroup will look at the impact of adjusting the temperature in the buildings – what is the impact of having buildings that are not quite as warm in the winter and not quite as cool in the summer? A small change like this may challenge what we are used to, requiring slight personal adjustments – slight adjustments that could result in savings of as much as $500,000 — without impacting our strategic plan or our employees.
- This workgroup will look at temporary vestibules and automatic doors in buildings that help to keep the cold air out.
2. The second is the Operations Workgroup;
- This workgroup will look at food, travel, printing, and consultants.
- We currently spend over three million dollars on food, travel, and printing alone.
- Can we do more teleconferencing?
- Can we have fewer lunches?
3. The third is the Financing Workgroup;
- This workgroup will look at the impact of spreading our costs over the useful life of the asset.
- Should we lease or buy? Onetime effort like leasing furniture and computers as opposed to using cash could save real dollars.
4. The fourth is the Human Resource Workgroup
- Over the last couple of weeks -- as I walk down the halls of Quinn Administration Building -- I have noticed a lot of increased activity around Human Resources. It seems that hundreds of people are rushing to fill vacant positions!
- While this group will look at overtime, contract employees, and vacant positions – I repeat that which I mentioned earlier —we are committed to protecting core faculty and staff.
I will also form a Fifth Workgroup – A workgroup led by the provost and the deans. This workgroup will ensure that we stay focused on our academic core.
We presently have competent and strong leadership in place in Interim Provost Langley and the university deans, all of whom to date have been, and I believe will be, able to maintain the academic focus of this institution while we go through this difficult time and still be guided by the priorities of the strategic plan.
- We also have created and posted a form on the Administration and Finance website which all of you can use to independently submit your ideas for possible savings scenarios to the university administration.
During the last month of discussions and planning regarding the 9C cuts I have purposely delayed the discussion regarding the search process for the next provost for the University of Massachusetts Boston. I did not want to send out communications regarding this process in the middle of figuring out what had to happen next and send the wrong message. Under the circumstances I believed that we all needed to remain focused on the 9C discussion. Assistant Chancellor Dr. Terry Mortimer has been quietly speaking with a university-wide, representative group of faculty, staff, and students to serve on this important search committee – many of whom, despite the countless demands on their time, have already stepped forward to accept my invitation to serve. When we welcome our new provost, we want his or her energies to be undistracted by this crisis and as focused as possible on driving the academic resources of this university toward the attainment of its strategic goals. I am asking that we all be enlisted in the efforts to identify solutions while staying the course toward realizing our potential. While we will move forward with the search process, I ask that our first priority remain the resolution of this 9C issue.
I am also asking Provost Langley and the deans to continue, with a prioritized focus, the recruitment of the 49 new and replacement tenure and tenure-track faculty currently underway.
We should all expect in some way to be impacted by these recommendations for cost savings. Yet this is very much a serendipitous moment. At a time when our environment is warning us in myriad ways to operate in a less profligate manner with regard to the consumption of energy and natural resources, our economy is also driving us to be far more urgent in the way that we respond to that warning. We all need to look closely at the ways in which we as an organization waste as a matter of course, and identify suggestions for eliminating waste, even where those suggestions may create some level of inconvenience or discomfort. We owe it to our earth and to the world that we serve to develop better habits in our workplace which in the long run make us stronger, more efficient, and more responsible stewards of the earth.
The intention here is that we all put our critical skills to work on this problem, so that we all are included in the process which will culminate in recommendations for future actions. However, any recommended reductions must remain consistent with the Boston campus’ strategic priorities. It is absolutely critical at this moment in our history, in the midst of what many call a social crisis, that whatever reductions we make not compromise our commitment to excellence nor obstruct our progress toward becoming the world-class, student-centered, urban public research university. This includes continuing the master planning process and progress toward our first new academic building in 40 years. The governor and the legislature envision the investment made at this campus and those around the state as critical investments toward our economic future. The University of Massachusetts Boston is becoming the first choice for students, faculty, research partners, and communities locally, statewide, and around the globe seeking to engage university resources to aid in solving their problems.
This new reputation is because of all of you! Bricks and mortar will never replace the need for your individual contributions to the growth of our university – I value your dedication, caring, and support.
I believe that this is our time. Yes this is a difficult time. Let no one say that I am diminishing the nature and extent of our struggle or encouraging anyone to engage in sticking their head in the sand or the wearing of rose-colored glasses. That is in no way my intent today. Rather I choose to recognize that with every crisis there is an attendant window of opportunity whose intent appears to be resistance and obstruction but, if courageously encountered, makes you better and stronger. We are a university community of faculty, staff, and students that understands that “trials come to make you strong.”
We as a university community – students, faculty, and staff – are being presented with just such an opportunity now to become better, stronger, more focused and engaged in our common purpose. It is our time!
Why do I say it’s our time?
I say it’s our time because, in a time of economic struggle and strain, an urban public research university that is accessible, affordable, with strong connections to the world of work and still offering a top rate education, with opportunities to engage in meaningful research and service to the world community – that university is at the forefront and not the back of people’s minds when it comes time for decisions regarding higher education. I want you all to consider that just last weekend over 4,000 prospective students pre-registered for our Open House. Those of you who were here—you can testify to the fact that the Campus Center was abuzz with enthusiasm and hope, because persons saw on that Saturday morning a high-quality educational experience in an attractive physical plant that is accessible to them.
I say it’s our time because the implementation of the strategic plan is in process. We are making measured progress toward achieving our four strategic goals. People are presently engaged in activities that will bring the University of Massachusetts Boston into a state of readiness for the future that we envision and is even now coming into being. It serves no purpose for anyone to hide in the trenches or to retreat in fear of the times and events. We all need to be a part of the advance of the university, not the retreat. How can we do this? By seeing the strategic priorities of this university as a critical challenge for us and for the departments and organizations for which we work on this campus.
Oftentimes in the course of organizational growth and development individuals become disconnected from the whole and cease to be active contributors to the movement and direction of an organization. In a sense, it’s almost as if they are sitting at their desk and working, but for one reason or another their phone has been figuratively taken off the hook. When the organization attempts to call their extensions, to engage them in the ongoing dialogue and process for achieving its vision, even if it is at a time when those individuals feel themselves ready to participate, they miss the call because their phone is on “vibrate.” Let me encourage us all, as we advance the university forward together, to go back to basics and keep our phones on our favorite loud ring tone.
When we engage in ways to extend the reach of our spheres of responsibility to better and more accurately serve the varied needs of our customers, our phones are off vibrate.
When we connect with this dynamic community to develop ways to work smarter and more effectively, our phones are off vibrate.
When we see opportunities to advance the University of Massachusetts Boston, small or great, and do not regard it as someone else’s responsibility to make it known, our phones are off vibrate.
In spite of the harsh economic climate that has settled itself around us, I know many of you remain extremely excited about the University of Massachusetts Boston. We encourage you to remain connected with us in our enthusiasm and hope regarding what is taking place here.
Let me also enlist all of you today in a culture-changing exercise that Margaret Benefiel, in her book The Soul of a Leader, refers to as “Practicing Gratitude.” Rather than regarding this situation and the additional responsibilities it demands as a burden, a curse, or a source of stress, see it as a gift. See it as a great social imperative to sharpen your aim as we pursue our mission as the great student-centered, public research university. Successfully navigating the challenges in our immediate future without falling off track requires a different attitude towards our work and our colleagues; it calls for us to value one another highly and express that appreciation diligently; it means disciplining your attitude and your actions to generate and sustain an atmosphere of affirmation and gratitude.
This is our time. There are students – large numbers from greater Boston, from the 330 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, of every culture and class—that need and deserve a world class education, and the University of Massachusetts Boston is poised to be that for them.
This is our time. Our city depends on us to remain a driver of economic activity and innovation and to prepare the minds and hearts of this generation to be its leaders.
This is our time. Our state has invested in us with the expectation that we are working hard to approximate the democratizing vision that lies at the heart of the public university.
If we can look with different eyes and discern the Kairos moment, then even in the crisis we can seize this as an opportunity:
- to weave our mission and our values
- to develop our leaders at every level – faculty, staff, and students
- to improve our facilities
- to be excellent stewards
- to showcase our world-class faculty, staff, and students.
- to provide service excellence
- to enhance and expand our service continuum
- to create pride in our work
- to tell our story
And in doing so to strengthen and deepen the already growing attraction of the University of Massachusetts Boston for the world.
The crisis of the hour should not signal for you the undoing of our grand vision. Rather, see it as a testing of our mettle, a proving out of our resolve.
Now is the time when all that we have worked for, planned for, and prepared for—
- a growing, engaged, and successful student body
- a growing and effective faculty and staff to guide those students in their education and research
- physical structures that will support and encourage teaching, learning, and research
- a campus deeply engaged with the multi-bordered communities of our city, state, nation, and world—
these strategic priorities must be taken hold of and pulled into realization by our dogged and determined effort now. No one else will do it for us. It won’t just be handed to us; it must be seized by us. Do not underestimate the role that each of you plays. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, has said “If you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”
And as I stated to you at convocation just last month
“You are the right people
at the right time,
serving the right institution,
with the right passion,
for the right reasons.
I call you…to nobility,
in your service
to our great public university,
the University of Massachusetts Boston.”