UT system leaders say the legislative session in Nashville this has been one of the most threatening in UT’s history.
“In the end it has become a fairly contentious process,” said Jan Simek, UT system president. “We are very concerned. There are several legislative initiatives that have occurred over the last few months that we felt would lead to detrimental results.”
Hank Dye, UT vice president for public and government relations, said 20 resolutions were submitting during the legislative session that directly affected UT. Most years, only six to eight are read, he said.
Dr. Simek said nearly all the bills have either been pulled or postponed. But leaders are still worried about the threat of losing funds for capitol projects.
Mr. Dye, who spoke to the group from Nashville, said legislators all over Nashville are talking in “closed door” sessions about whether or not to cut capital funding for several UT system projects, including the UTC library.
Dr. Simek urged officials to reach out to Republicans in state Legislature.
“It is critical that we keep the projects,” he said.
Dr. Simek said officials are also worried about a discussion about reorganization of the state’s higher education system. Discussing improvements will be positive for the future of the system, but “a result that diminishes UT is not a desirable result,” he said.
UT and the Tennessee Board of Regents have put together a task force to talk about the delivery of higher education.
Participants want to make sure the state’s institutions have a clear mission and goal, without redundancy.
Their findings will be presented to the governor, Dr. Simek said.
“This is not as scary a prospect as it was several months ago,” he said.
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
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