UNC President Erskine Bowles had little praise for the state budget proposal released this week by Gov. Beverly Perdue.
The governor’s budget calls for further reductions at the university of 3.9 percent, a move Bowles said would result in serious reductions in the campuses’ teaching mission.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Bowles said he was pleased to see the governor siding with university officials rather than legislators on campus tuition increases, but Bowles, who plans to step down this year, said proposed reductions of more than $100 million for the system could result in the loss of 1,200 positions.
“The budget reductions reluctantly recommended by the Governor will do permanent and substantial damage to the university’s Academic Core and will start us on a path to mediocrity, something North Carolinians have never been willing to settle for in their institutions of higher learning,†Bowles said.