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LEXINGTON,
Ky. (Jan. 27, 2004) -- University
of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. told Board
of Trustees members today that he expects to
shrink the university's budget an estimated $16.7
million in state-mandated cuts by "surgical" cuts
rather than by across-the-board reductions.
"We've
done a lot of things to conserve already," he
commented. "We need to keep the faculty and
student morale high," during the period of
state-required budget reductions and not "backtrack" in
efforts to achieve top-20 status.
"I
plan to spare academic programs as much as possible," Todd
said. He told the board members that getting UK's
portion of the nonrecurring state higher education
budget cuts reduced to $16.7 million was a "small
victory."
The
president said the budget issue is a "major
concern" and he will wait until after Gov.
Ernie Fletcher's budget address tonight and the
legislative reaction to that before laying out
specific plans for UK's budget reductions.
Todd
said UK was able to meet last year's $5.5 million
budget cut by using unbudgeted tuition income and
with the help of the deans of the UK colleges whom
he had instructed to hold back 1 percent of their
spending after he learned budget cuts were imminent.
Concerning
crimes committed on or near the UK campus in recent
weeks, Todd reported UK now has 41 patrol officers,
including three recent hires. The university, he
said, is not losing police officers like many jurisdictions
because of low police pay.
The
president also said the university will soon announce
a new on-campus cellular telephone plan that will
give persons direct contact in emergency situations
with the UK Police Department.
In other action, the Board of Trustees adopted new
UK Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct and established
a 401(a) retirement plan for UK faculty and staff
members.
The
Code of Conduct establishes guidelines for professional
conduct for university trustees, executive officers,
faculty, staff, and other individuals employed
by the university, those using university resources
or facilities, and volunteers and representatives
acting as agents of the university.
UK
student conduct is governed by an already existing
code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
The
new code provides a nondiscrimination policy, sets
requirements for confidentiality of information,
stipulates use of the university's name and resources,
and prohibits sexual harassment.
The code also sets requirements in the areas of personal
relationships, employment of relatives, intellectual
property, conflict of commitment, conflict of interest,
financial advantage, and acceptance of gifts or benefits.
Members
of the university community are expected to report
violations of the policy to an appropriate individual,
the code states. "The university will not
tolerate any retaliation against an individual
who makes a good faith report of a violation," the
code concludes.
The
new retirement plan will enable UK faculty and
staff members to tax-shelter additional retirement
funds if they have already exceeded the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) tax-sheltering limits allowed
under the university's 403(b) retirement plan.
The
board received a report of the Office of Alumni
Affairs reporting the results of a recent election
among UK alumni members of a person to replace
alumni UK Board member Marian Moore Sims whose
term expires in June. The names of the three top
vote getters - James W. Stuckert, Ann Brand Haney,
and Thomas Eugene Spragens, Jr., - will be be submitted
to Gov. Fletcher who will select one as the new
alumni representative on the UK Board of Trustees.
Board
members also adopted resolutions honoring Paul
Van Booven, UK's general counsel, and Lexington
businessman and philanthropist William T. Young,
both of whom died recently.
President Todd said a room in the General Counsel's
suite of offices will be named in Van Booven's honor.
UK's library honors Young who gave the first $5 million
toward its construction. Young also established and
promoted the library's book endowment which is now
the largest among all public universities in the
nation.
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