Minutes of April 22, 2002 Meeting

	The meeting convened at 2:03 p.m. in room 817 Cathedral of 
Learning.

	UPBC members present were: James Cassing, Jerome Cochran, Richard 
Colwell, N. John Cooper, Christine Dollaghan, Gerald Holder, James Maher, 
Barbara Mowery, Richard Pratt, Arthur Ramicone, Christopher Riegel, Debora 
Rougeux, Michael Stuckart, and Philip Wion.  Also present were: Jeffrey 
Liebmann, Jeffrey Masnick, and Robert Pack.
	UPBC members not present were: Jeffrey Alex, Mary Ann Barber, 
Tammeka Beattie, Clifford Brubaker, Frank Cassell, Attilio Favorini, 
Christopher Happ, Arthur Levine, Evelyn Talbott, Stephen Wisniewski, and 
Thomas Wolf.

Report of the Chair

	Maher noted that two public universities – Texas A & M University 
and the State University of New York at Stony Brook – have been admitted 
into the Association of American Universities. 

Discussion of FY 2003 Planning and Budgeting Parameters

	Holder reported on the status of the Parameters Subcommittee, 
which had several meetings to discuss the issues that form the background 
for the development of the FY 2003 Educational and General budget.  The 
fiscal challenge the University faces as a result of the recommended 
reduction in Commonwealth support for next year is compounded by the 
projected significant increase in medical insurance rates for the 
following year.  The University must plan for that increase by retaining 
as much flexibility in the FY 2003 budget as possible.  This will be 
difficult without a significant tuition increase coupled with a 
substantial overall budget reduction.  A very high priority must be placed 
upon ensuring competitive salary increases, particularly in those faculty 
disciplines in which the national salary market has been growing rapidly 
and in which the University is losing ground.
	A wide-ranging discussion followed Holder's remarks.  The 
relationship between a high tuition rate increase and an overall budget 
reduction was stressed as a way to demonstrate that the University was 
making a real effort to control its costs.  At the same time, it must be 
understood that the University has made real progress in the last several 
years and that this progress must not be jeopardized by indiscriminate 
cost-cutting.  Retaining budgetary flexibility, both in order to ensure 
that the momentum of the University continues and to retain adequate 
flexibility to meet the challenges that the FY 2004 budget will present, 
is critical.  The discussion of the salary pool focused on the need to be 
competitive and on the need for continuing employees to receive adequate 
increases.
	Wion reported on a meeting of the ad hoc Planning and Budgeting 
Review Committee with the expanded Senate Executive Committee.  He cited a 
concern expressed at that meeting that the UPBC in recent years has 
focused increasingly on budgetary issues and less on planning issues.  
Maher responded by noting that the UPBC has in fact received and endorsed 
the Facilities Plan, the Information Technology Plan, and efforts to 
improve student life, which are all fundamental planning documents.

	The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.