Cuts after cuts: Facing a $75 million budget gap, UA president discusses plan - SAM DeGRAVE, JUNEAU EMPIRE

It’s the dead of winter in Fairbanks, and it’s 40 below. There’s a car stranded on the side of the road, its hazard lights intermittently lighting the dense ice fog enveloping it. Fortunately, the marooned vehicle and its driver are only metaphorical. Unfortunately, the metaphor is one that University of Alaska President Jim Johnson used to describe the position in which he found the university when he took over in July. Since then, the fog of uncertainty surrounding the UA system has only thickened. “Our biggest enemy is uncertainty,” Johnsen told the members of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce at their weekly luncheon, and also later in an interview with the Empire Thursday afternoon. The source of that uncertainty is the Alaska Legislature. http://juneauempire.com/local/2016-04-29/cuts-after-cuts-ua-prez-winces