Tech president says budget cut will hit ‘quality’

ROANOKE (AP) — A state directive for a budget cut of about $14.8 million coupled with expenses related to the mass shootings on campus means Virginia Tech may have trouble maintaining “consistent quality” in its programs, university President Charles Steger said.

Mr. Steger sent an e-mail to university employees Thursday warning them of potential cutbacks.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ordered state agencies to cut their budgets by 5 percent to help cope with a projected shortfall of $641 million in state government revenues by next summer.

“This will tax the university’s ability to maintain all programs with consistent quality,” Mr. Steger said, noting that the cut comes on top of $8 million in expenses the school incurred after a student gunman killed 32 persons and himself April 16.

“Frankly, I know that this news will be hard to accept given the grief our university community continues to feel over the painful losses of April,” Mr. Steger told the employees.

The university paid for all lodging for families of those killed and injured in the days following the shooting spree by Seung-hui Cho, university spokesman Larry Hincker said. It also had substantial expenses for cleanup and renovation of the classroom building were Cho killed 30 of his victims. And the school set up a new office with counselors to act as a liaison with injured students and families of those killed.

New locks were installed on many classroom doors, and Mr. Steger said other security-related expenses are anticipated.

Mr. Steger said he is not ordering across-the-board hiring freezes or budget reductions, but would give deans “wide latitude in implementing reduction strategies.”

“It is paramount that we protect the integrity of the academic enterprise,” he said.

The university last had budget reductions five years ago, when the state shortfall approached $6 billion, Mr. Steger said.

Mr. Hincker said officials are still trying to determine how the ordered cuts will affect the school.

Virginia started its current fiscal year $234 million short of its targeted goals due largely to a sharp downturn in the real estate market. Revenues grew by only 4.9 percent for the year instead of the 6.5 percent growth rate on which the budget is based.