However, some of the bills that have been filed and the trends that seem to be supported by the legislature may have a negative impact on higher learning. There was discussion by members of both chambers of the benefits of on-line courses as a way to achieve dramatic reductions in university and college budgets in the future. Legislative leaders actually say that we can create on-line courses once and then use them repeatedly to collect tuition and avoid instruction costs in the future. They are slow to acknowledge the expenses of revising on-line courses each year to reflect changes in research results, and in texts and materials available to students, as well as the expenses of remaining in constant contact with students in answering questions and evaluating their work. While most faculty see the benefits of on-line learning, it would seem from legislators' comments that the long-term solution will be to go a virtual university that would be a private entity. To that end, there is $2.5 million allocated in the House Budget as the initial cost (“student access” expense) for using Western Governors University, a private entity without classrooms (charging $6000 per year), which is designated by all Western states as an on-line university with credits acceptable in public higher education institutions in those states. In other words, credits for a baccalaureate degree can come from a private company with no actual faculty interacting with and evaluating students in meaningful ways.

What kind of higher education budget are we facing? The House released a budget this week. (The Senate budget has not been published.) The approach is to cut appropriations by $600 million and expect tuition increases to make up the differences in funding lost. We are hopeful that the Senate budget will be more generous. On a positive note the FIU Medical School was fully funded and therefore on track for accreditation.

Should Florida deny faculty and professional employees the right to serve in the legislature? In SB 1560 Senators John Thrasher and Don Gaetz propose taking away from faculty the right to serve in the Legislature -- claiming it is a conflict of interest for faculty to vote on bills that favor their own institution. (The bill is silent on possible conflicts by bankers, insurance executives, lawyers, doctors, engineers, and other professionals who often chair committees that craft legislation, and regardless of their possible conflicts of interest, sometimes even use their expertise to prevent damaging mistakes from becoming law.) University and college employees will join convicted felons as the only Floridians barred from serving in the Legislature.

I did not hear any discussion of further pension cuts, although there is discussion about a change in health benefits. There are no specific bills yet, but we will make every attempt to keep you informed.

HOW FIU SPENDS ITS MONEY

FIU Expenditures on Faculty and Higher Level Administration

(For the full report go to our website www.UFF-FIU.org)

In 2004, 2007, and 2009 UFF-FIU commissioned the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) to produce reports analyzing the trends in FIU expenditures on faculty and faculty salaries compared to expenditures on administration and administrators' salaries. Such an analysis reveals the priorities of FIU as a public institution of higher learning. This report extends this comparison through the 2010-2011 academic year.

In general, the results of our previous studies demonstrated that the FIU administration had been diverting resources away from faculty and direct university functions (teaching, research, and service) to administrative personnel and salaries. For over a decade FIU was on the leading edge of this disturbing national trend. To place FIU into the national context it is helpful to compare FIU to national indicators for the 14 year period between 1993 and 2007 for which comparative data has been reported. As indicated in Table 1, for example:

• The number of full-time administrators per 100 students at America's leading universities grew by 39%, while the number of employees engaged in teaching, research and service only grew by 18%.1
• At FIU the number of full-time administrators per 100 students grew by 79.5%. In this same time period while in-state undergraduate tuition grew by 40.3% and FIU enrollment at FIU rose 57% the number of faculty per 100 students decreased by 29.2%. On this indicator FIU was one of the worst, ranked at 156 out of a maximum of 196.