USF prepares for Governor’s budget - Divya Kumar, USF Orcale

Almost a year after the Florida Senate proposed to slash USF’s budget by 58 percent, a proposal that USF President Judy Genshaft called “blatantly unfair,” Genshaft stood before the Faculty Senate on Wednesday cautiously optimistic as the university waits for the Governor’s proposed budget that will begin the legislative allocation process. This time, she said, things were different. All 12 of Florida’s public university want the same thing, she said. “It’s unusual for all state presidents to get together to give one unified message to the Legislature,” she said. “But all of our university state presidents have come together because if, for example, we were a car, we’re out of gas and electricity.” They want, she said, the $300 million cut from the State University System’s budget last year restored. They also want an additional $118 million — about equivalent to a 15 percent tuition increase, something Gov. Rick Scott has repeatedly said he opposes. http://www.usforacle.com/news/usf-prepares-for-governor-s-budget-1.2805331