University of Nebraska-Lincoln leader reduces program cuts from 6 to 4
内布拉斯加大学林肯分校负责人将削减的项目数量从6个减少到4个
Dive Brief:
简要报道：
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s chancellor on Monday unveiled a final budget recommendation that would cut four academic programs at the university, two fewer than he originally proposed in September.
内布拉斯加大学林肯分校校长于周一公布了最终的预算建议方案，该方案将在该校裁减四个学术项目，比他最初在九月提议的数量少了两个。
However, Chancellor Rodney Bennett’s new plan would eliminate two programs that a university committee voted to recommend keeping. His proposal also comes amid concerns raised by faculty over program evaluation metrics and the budget reduction process.
然而，校长罗德尼·贝内特（Rodney Bennett）的新方案将取消两个此前由校委员会投票建议保留的学术项目。他的提议出台之际，教员们对项目的评估指标以及预算削减流程提出了担忧。
The program cuts would trim $6.7 million from UNL’s budget, mainly through doing away with roughly four dozen full-time equivalent jobs. Bennett’s proposal also calls for merging four academic departments into two new schools and reducing budgets at four UNL colleges.
此次削减项目将使内布拉斯加大学林肯分校（UNL）的预算减少670万美元，主要通过裁撤约40个全职等效岗位来实现。贝内特的提案还提出将四个学术部门合并为两所新学院，并削减UNL四所学院的预算。
Dive Insight:
深度分析：
Ultimately, Bennett proposed axing UNL’s departments of Earth and atmospheric sciences; educational administration; statistics; and textiles, merchandising and fashion design — all as part of an effort to save $27.5 million annually to address a structural deficit.
最终，贝内特提议裁撤内布拉斯加大学林肯分校（UNL）的地球与大气科学系、教育管理系、统计学系以及纺织、商品与时装设计系——所有举措都是为了每年节省2750万美元，以应对结构性赤字问题。
He spared two programs that he recommended cutting earlier: landscape architecture, and community and regional planning. The University of Nebraska System’s regents plan to consider Bennett’s final recommendations at their December meeting.
他保留了两个此前曾建议削减的专业：景观建筑，以及社区与区域规划。内布拉斯加大学系统的董事会计划在12月的会议上审议贝内特的最终建议。
Bennett’s initial proposal — and how he arrived at his recommended cuts — drew opposition from affected faculty and other stakeholders.
贝内特最初的提案——以及他是如何得出建议削减名单的——引发了受影响教职员工及其他利益相关方的反对。
Based on hearings and nearly 3,000 filed comments, UNL’s Academic Planning Committee — made up of faculty, staff, administrators and students — voted in October to oppose closing four of the programs in Bennett’s original plan.
根据听证会及近3000条提交的评论意见，由教师、职员、行政人员及学生组成的内布拉斯加大学林肯分校学术规划委员会在10月投票反对关闭贝内特原方案中涉及的四个专业。
Two of those programs — statistics, and Earth and atmospheric sciences — are nonetheless on the chopping block in Bennett's final plan.
尽管如此，贝内特最终项目中仍有其中两个专业——统计学系以及地球与大气科学系——被列入了被裁撤名单。
The committee didn’t oppose Bennett’s plans to cut the educational administration and textiles programs, or to merge UNL’s departments of entomology and plant pathology into one interdisciplinary school and the departments of agricultural economics and agricultural leadership, education and communication into another.
该委员会并未反对贝内特削减教育管理系和纺织系的建议，也未反对将内布拉斯加大学林肯分校（UNL）的昆虫学与植物病理学系合并为一所跨学科新学院，以及将农业经济学系与农业领导力、教育与传播系合并为另一所新学院的项目。
However, the committee called on Bennett and UNL leaders to extend the timeline for making existential decisions about any of the programs.
不过，该委员会呼吁贝内特及UNL领导层延长对任何专业作出事关存亡决策的时间表。
“We strongly recommend to the Chancellor, the President, and the Board of Regents that the approval of any budget cuts be delayed allowing time for units to identify creative alternative solutions that reduce or prevent the need for these cuts,” the committee said in an Oct. 24 memo. But Bennett and UNL leaders appear undeterred and are sticking with their original timelines.
该委员会在10月24日的备忘录中表示：“我们强烈建议校长、校长办公室及董事会推迟批准任何预算削减，以便各院系有时间制定富有创意的替代方案，从而减轻或避免实施这些削减的必要性。” 但贝内特及UNL领导层似乎并未因此动摇，仍坚持按原计划时间表推进。
The committee also pointed to concerns raised by UNL stakeholders about the metrics and data that officials used to decide on programs.
该委员会还指出，UNL的各利益相关方对官员们用来决定专业去留的评估指标和数据提出了担忧。
Faculty members have said that the data was incomplete and sometimes incorrect and that the administration wasn’t transparent with them about how programs were being statistically evaluated. They also contended that the programs' full value to the university and state weren’t taken into account.
教职员工表示，相关数据并不完整且有时存在错误，而且校方在程序统计评估的方式上对他们缺乏透明度。他们还认为，这些专业对大学和本州的整体价值并未得到充分考虑。
UNL officials reviewed the programs “in accordance with performance metrics that align with UNL standards and external accountability frameworks,” Bennett said in a public message Monday. “The metrics were also shaped through extensive consultation in the spring with academic deans, college leadership teams, department executive officers and the APC.”
贝内特在周一的一份公开声明中表示，UNL官员是“依据符合内布拉斯加大学林肯分校标准及外部问责框架的绩效指标”来审查这些专业的。“这些指标的制定过程还在春季广泛征求了各学院院长、学院领导团队、系主任以及学术规划委员会（APC）的意见。”
Still, some faculty continued to slam the metrics for a lack of transparency.
尽管如此，一些教职员工仍继续批评这些指标缺乏透明度。
“What are these new performance expectations, and where do we find them?” Sarah Zuckerman, an educational administration professor at UNL and head of its American Association of University Professors chapter, said in a Tuesday blog post titled “No Real Metrics, Only Vibes.” UNL’s AAUP chapter has actively opposed the cuts.
“这些新的绩效期望到底是什么？我们又能在哪里找到它们？”内布拉斯加大学林肯分校教育管理系教授、该校美国大学教授协会（AAUP）分会主席莎拉·朱克曼（Sarah Zuckerman）在周二一篇题为《没有真正的指标，只有感觉》的博客文章中说道。UNL的AAUP分会一直积极反对此次削减计划。
Zuckerman added, “This feels like not only have administrators changed the rules of the game while it is still being played, but they didn’t bother to tell us.”
朱克曼补充道：“这感觉不仅像是管理层在比赛还没结束时就改了规则，而且还懒得告诉我们一声。”
UNL’s faculty senate plans to consider a no confidence vote for Bennett on Nov. 18 over his handling of the budget cuts.
内布拉斯加大学林肯分校的教职员参议院计划于11月18日就贝内特在处理预算削减问题上的表现进行不信任投票。
