President Choi to address MU budget Friday as university faces $60 million in cuts
UM System President Mun Choi is inviting the MU community to attend a budget address Friday.
In an email sent to campus Tuesday, Choi said he will share “key rescissions as well as strategic investments for the short term.” He also said he will share “consolidations and centralization efforts to streamline our operation to support teaching, research and outreach.”
The email came fewer than two weeks after a budget draft proposal for the University of Missouri was sent to President Choi. In the proposal, Interim Chancellor Garnett Stokes said MU is facing approximately $60 million in cuts for fiscal year 2018. She said the university has “identified strategies to reduce the FY18 budget by $40.6 million in recurring costs and $18.9 million in one-time costs.”
“The proposed plan will unquestionably impact our workforce, facilities and the breadth of services we provide,” Stokes wrote in a letter to President Choi. “Leaders were tasked with balancing between making decisions on investing in the most transformational opportunities for MU’s future and meeting budget reductions. Needless to say, these were difficult decisions.”
The proposal called for the elimination of more than 300 jobs, including 84 layoffs. Dr. Stokes also asked each college, school and division to cut their budgets by 12 percent, according to an email sent to campus on May 10.
President Choi’s budget address will be livestreamed Friday. ABC 17 News will have full coverage.
