State budget
Governor Whitman's budget called "a positive start"
Archived article from Feb 4, 2000
By Douglas Frank
In her State of the State address, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman acknowledged higher education's role in the state's continued economic prosperity, and her current budget calls for funding to support that vision, President Francis L. Lawrence told the University Senate Jan. 28.
"The governor's budget proposal for FY2001 is a positive start to the budget process," Lawrence said. "It addresses many of our chief budget objectives and permits us to continue to build academic excellence while keeping our tuition affordable."
Lawrence said that the governor has proposed an increase of approximately $8 million in Rutgers' state operating support, to some $328 million. "Once again, 1 percent of this 2.5 percent increase is tied to our meeting performance indicators in such areas as graduation rates, percentage of transfer students, number of small programs and increases in external funding," he said. "The budget also provides partial funding for the FY2000 and 2001 salary increases and increases in our employee fringe-benefit costs."
In addtion, the proposed budget for higher education includes:
--A new $15 million competitive fund to promote excellence in academic programs that are critical to building the state's high-technology work force.
--A new $10 million program to match federal biomedical and other technology research grants at Rutgers and five other institutions.
--$5 million to fund a second year of the Blee bill, which provides matching funds for certain private gifts.
--More than $1 million for ARTSYS, a statewide computerized system to transfer articulation information between community and four-year colleges.
The governor also proposed an increase of more than $8 million for TAG, the state's major student financial-aid program; a $1.5 million increase in funding for EOF; a $2.2 million increase for the Outstanding Scholars program; and a commitment to a second series of bonds for educational equipment through the Equipment Leasing Fund program.
Lawrence expressed sympathy to the families of those killed or injured in the recent residence-hall fire at Seton Hall and noted, "It is important for all of us to learn from this tragedy, to look anew at our own campus circumstances and do all in our power to make certain that there is no reoccurrence of such a tragedy."
Reporting briefly on the state of fire safety at Rutgers, Lawrence noted:
--All residential high-rise buildings are protected by automatic sprinkler systems, and all have state-of-the-art high-rise fire-detection and alarm systems.
--All university facilities constructed since 1988 have sprinkler systems throughout.
--All residence-hall rooms are equipped with single-station smoke detectors and heat-detection equipment.
--Rutgers fire inspectors performed more than 10,000 inspections of all residence-hall rooms and apartments in 1999, enforcing the state fire code and university fire-safety regulations.
The president expressed concerns about what he called the "human factor" in emergency situations.
"False alarms turned in as pranks, careless smoking or other violations of fire safety regulations can circumvent even the most elaborate safety systems," Lawrence warned, and he urged the university community to act responsibly at all times.
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